Panel considers ways to reduce uninsured

A group looking at ways to get more Utahns under health insurance coverage has many options to consider, but it isn't sure which may work best for the state.

Under an initiative put forward by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., the group's goal is to cut the percentage of uninsured Utahns in half — to about 5 percent — by 2010. A May summit on the topic yielded lots of ideas, "but what we learned, of course, is there isn't a single right answer or 'magic bullet,' " Dr. David Sundwall, executive director of the state Department of Health, told the Legislature's Business and Labor Interim Committee on Wednesday.

"We have not, from that summit, learned what to do," he said. "We have options to consider, along with the Legislature."

Sundwall said some options might be ready for the 2006 legislative session, but a more comprehensive set likely will be prepared for the 2007 Legislature.

"We have a little more than 10 percent of our citizens uninsured," Sundwall said. "This is not high by national standards, but it's significant when you think of a state of 2 1/2 million with about a quarter of a million uninsured. That has long-term effects for lots of people."

Sundwall cautioned that uninsured people do not go entirely without health care, but those costs are assumed by hospitals and others, with subsidies or higher premium costs resulting.

"We believe that state government can play a role in ensuring access to health insurance for all Utah citizens. Decreasing the number of uninsured will shore up our current health-care system, it would ensure access to care on a more equal footing and it would eliminate cost-shifting and hidden taxation. . . . It's a very costly system, and it's our impression that if there were insurance for everyone, our total health-care expenditures would, in theory, be lower."

But how to make that happen is proving elusive. Sundwall said the solution should not be a government program and that most Utahns would be better served by private insurance programs, with government programs being used only as "a helping hand in time of need and not as an entitlement."

Most of the uninsured are employed young white men with a high school education, and one-third of that group has annual income over $45,000, "which means they are, by choice, choosing to spend that income, albeit somewhat limited, on something other than health insurance," Sundwall said.