Keep Medicaid | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

In "The spite club" (Opinion, June 8), Paul Krugman opines that it is wrong for states to refuse to expand Medicaid coverage to provide "health coverage to very-low-income Americans, at a cost private insurers can't match." If you missed it, read his article, because Utah is on the cusp of rejecting Medicaid expansion.

See this less as a political issue and more as a humanitarian issue. Our society helps those less fortunate, and a majority of Utahns agree. Even Utah's majority religion agrees with that principle.

Health care for the poor is a bigger issue than a single organization can solve and, as Krugman points out, Medicaid expansion will actually save rather than cost money.

If you agree that our state has a role to play in helping supply health care to our less-fortunate neighbors, contact Gov. Gary Herbert and ask him to accept Medicaid expansion for Utah

If you do not agree, then also express your opinion. However, I hope you will also suggest an alternative way of making health care available in Utah to those who are unable to afford it for themselves.

Peter Harvey

Salt Lake City