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Richard Piatt Reporting Advocates for the poor are pushing for a health care session during the upcoming legislature.
The yearly 45 day session begins a week from now. Already there are big expectations.
The thing that's getting people going is the huge budget surplus, which is at somewhere around a billion and a half dollars.
There are people who say solving health care issues should be at the top of the list. Those people were speaking on behalf of the hundreds of thousands who have inadequate health insurance. They are planning to apply considerable pressure on lawmakers to pass comprehensive reform.
At the same time, Democrat Senator Scott McCoy is getting the ball rolling on a constitutional amendment to declare health care as a human right.
Sen. Scott McCoy (D), Salt Lake City: "It is high time we put in the Constitution the notion that every Utahn should have access to this fundamental right."
Tammi Diaz, Wants Health Care Reform: "I know people who can't even go to the doctor who are real sick, and who don't have the money. And that isn't right."
Republican Legislative leaders have already indicated they intend to fund health care issues like dental and vision benefits for the poor, and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
But the bigger picture is the non- and under-insured that these people argue cost the state much more in the long run.
This is just one example of the pressure lawmakers are facing because of the large deficit.
But after years of hearing 'no' from legislators, these people are counting on a different tune this time.
