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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The expansion of Medicaid to cover Utah's working poor is far more widespread than state health officials realized.
The Salt Lake Tribune found taxpayers footed the health insurance bill for 7,220 working Wasatch Front Utahns, including their children, in 2004.
But those tallies are being disputed by the state Department of Workforce Services, which reports a quarterly average of 38,538 low-wage workers on government-funded health insurance that year.
The new number is statewide, but geography alone doesn't explain the discrepancy. The higher number also represents only adults who are receiving services and excludes their children -- who account for more than half the state's Medicaid rolls.
Utah's Medicaid director Michael Hale says the numbers reflect reality and that there could be underreporting going on.
-- Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
