Utah could become the latest state to expand Medicaid under the ACA.
Here are four things to know.
1. Utah Decides Healthcare, an advocacy group, collected 165,000 signatures from registered voters to put a Medicaid expansion initiative on the November ballot, according to The Hill. The group needed to raise more than 113,000.
2. The ballot initiative is one of two Medicaid expansion proposals in the state. Utah is already seeking permission from the federal government to expand Medicaid to people with incomes up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level and implement a Medicaid work requirement, according to the report. The ballot initiative would expand Medicaid to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — the threshold under the ACA.
3. The Hill notes the ACA requires the federal government to cover 90 percent of Medicaid expansion, and Utah would use a sales tax increase to pay for its portion.
4. More than 30 states, plus Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid under the ACA thus far. If the ballot initiative passed, approximately 150,000 Utah residents could gain coverage, as opposed to 60,000 residents under the state's waiver proposal to the federal government, according to the report.
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