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Now this is the story all about how,
The Utah Medicaid expansion budget got flipped-turned upside down,
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there,
I'll tell you how $56 million was hidden by the legislature
#utpol #utleg (1/13)
The Utah Medicaid expansion budget got flipped-turned upside down,
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there,
I'll tell you how $56 million was hidden by the legislature
#utpol #utleg (1/13)
Out of the states who expanded Medicaid late, Utah’s Medicaid expansion fund is arguably in the best situation. Our expansion generates revenue from the sales tax, which stayed strong despite COVID-19. (2/13)
Prop 3, the ballot initiative that expanded Medicaid in Utah, included its own funding mechanism so no $$ from the legislature would be needed. Prop 3 advocates relied on state numbers to craft the non-food sales tax. (3/13)
Using state numbers was hard for many reasons. Over the years, there were several increases in how many people we were told would qualify for MedEx, and thus how much the program would cost. We never got an explanation. (4/13)
Here is where actual enrollment stands against state projections for the first fiscal year of MedEx. This includes enrollment increases that happened when COVID-19 first hit – UT has had the highest enrollment increase in the nation. (5/13)
Prop 3 used conservative estimates. We needed more than enough money to cover the projected # of enrollees. We always anticipated a surplus, which is why Prop 3 created a restricted account to house the surplus dollars and save $$ for economic downturn. (6/13)
There is currently $74.5 million in that restricted account. Because of COVID-19, the legislature could use this $$, but didn’t. If the MedEx budget was in trouble, this account would be the first to be used. We are in a pandemic & this account has only continued to grow. (7/13)
Here’s the fact, in FY 2019, MedEx generated $94.4 million and only expended $37.7 million. We started FY 2020 with $62.7 million in the bank PLUS had a healthily growing reserve account. (8/13)
In FY 2020, MedEx generated $125.7 million and only expended $79.1 million. We started FY 2021 with 109.3 in the expansion fund. (9/13)
When the legislature repealed Prop 3, GOMB re-crunched some numbers and projected only a $3.5 million surplus for FY 2019. We get that economic projections are tough to make, but the level of disparity between projections and actuals is reason for concern. (10/13)
So how did the state hide the fact that Medicaid expansion is creating more surplus than they know what to do with? In the 2020 legislative session, the legislature quietly took $56 million from the MedEx fund and put it into the Gen Fund to help pay for other things. (11/13)
That’s right – the legislature intended to take from the Medicaid expansion surplus and pay for other appropriations with it. UHPP fought hard against this. Voters did not approve this money to be used for anything other than MedEx. (12/13)
That $56 mil is now being returned. The idea that MedEx is underperforming is a myth. This is a story about shady budgeting. Medicaid expansion is performing well because expansion generates $ from the sales tax, which stayed strong despite COVID. Thanks to Prop 3. #utpol #utleg
