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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- If the governor can find a matching $1 million, an anonymous donor will provide the other $1 million to provide the critical dental services for the aged, blind and disabled that the Legislature refused to consider.
Gov. Jon Huntsman hopes to persuade religious groups, charitable health clinics and private dentists to kick in that second $1 million.
"I feel strongly about this issue and we need to get it paid for. I have no choice now but to look at private options," Huntsman said Thursday in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.
"There is nothing optional about dental. It is a core health issue, without which you have a host of complications and you can't function in the marketplace," he said.
The plan is meant to be a one-year fix for vulnerable Medicaid patients, who are to lose their dental coverage on July 1.
Legislative leaders have repeatedly rejected funding so-called "optional" dental and vision care, arguing that Medicaid costs are spiraling out of control.
The Republican-led Legislature refused to even consider restoring dental at a special session last month, while $15 million for an underground Capitol Hill parking garage.
The move has drawn fire from the public.
A recent survey taken for KSL-TV found 61 percent of Utahns questioned said the Legislature should have provided the money, while 26 percent said it should not and 13 percent were not sure.
Huntsman said that during his next trip to Washington, he will lobby U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to reconsider labeling dental care as an optional service.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
