Utah expanded Medicaid, but cut $10 million from drug treatment, making providers 'nervous'

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Medicaid expansion — though it covers less than the estimated 150,000 Utahns that would have been covered under voter-approved Proposition 3 — has still been viewed as a positive for treatment providers who help Utahns escape the throes of drug addiction.

Yet, even for them, it comes with a catch.

Though Utah lawmakers passed the more limited plan that extends coverage to between 70,000 to 90,000 Utahns that previously fell in the so-called coverage gap, they also cut about $10.2 million in statewide behavioral health money, meant to offset what Medicaid is now expected to cover.

So now, counties have to figure out how to adjust for those cuts — and as the county with the most social services programs, Salt Lake County must make do with a $3.6 million cut.

On top of that, the state also cut about $2 million in one-time money that funded county programs like social detox and other programs expanded as part of Operation Rio Grande.

Read more: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900069009/utah-expanded-medicaid-but-cut-dollar10-million-from-drug-treatment-making-providers-nervous.html