Health Department to Implement Limited Medicaid Expansion

For Immediate Release

February 3, 2017

Media Contact:

Tom Hudachko

Utah Department of Health

(o) 801.538.6232

(m) 801.560.4649

Health Department to Implement Limited Medicaid Expansion

(Salt Lake City, UT) – At the direction of Gov. Gary R. Herbert and legislative leadership, the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) will amend its Medicaid State Plan to extend coverage to an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 low-income Utah parents. Low-income parents who earn up to approximately 45 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) are currently eligible for Medicaid; the amended plan will raise the effective income eligibility limit to 60 percent of the FPL.

The amended plan will require federal approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

Newly eligible parents will likely be able to apply for Medicaid benefits beginning July 1, 2017. The funding to provide coverage for these adults was appropriated during the 2016 legislative session through House Bill 437.

The UDOH initially submitted this request to CMS in 2016 as part of a larger request to expand coverage to targeted groups of adults, including the chronically homeless and those involved in the criminal justice system. The larger request would have provided coverage to an additional 6,000 to 8,000 adults. CMS officials are still considering elements of the larger request submitted last year. 

  

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