Whether affordable health care is a fundamental right for all Americans is a topic ripe for discussion but not necessarily any formal action as yet, members of the state's Constitutional Review Commission said Friday.

The group declined to act on a proposal to allow Utah voters to decide if access to health care should be included in the Utah Constitution. Instead, it encouraged Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, to vet his proposal through the Legislature in the coming weeks, then bring it back to them in the summer for review.

"The public debate on this issue is coming, if it's not already there," commission member Roger Tew said. "(But) I don't think we're there yet, on this particular issue, as much as I truly believe that this is going to be a dominant issue in the next decade or so."

McCoy's SJR4 would amend the Utah Constitution to require the Legislature to establish and maintain a system to provide "affordable, medically necessary" health care for all Utah citizens.

The resolution does not specify how to craft such a system, simply stating that one needs to be created. The proposition did not set well with several committee members Friday.

"Whether health care is a right or not is a growing question in our country. And I think that it is a valid question that perhaps needs to be answered," said Sen. Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City. "But I have concerns about laying this at the feet of the state Legislature knowing the tremendous amount of money that goes into the issue. I think you need to somehow craft a valid proposal that this is how we're going to pay for this, because I don't think you'll get a lot of attention without it."

For McCoy, however, the idea is not to create the system, just create the impetus to get something done.

"It puts, if you will, a hammer over the legislative and executive branches, while still leaving them in the driver's seat, he said. "This legislation says that the legislature should do it. The public policy debate about what that system is, what it should look like, still happens. It basically stops the problem of sitting on our hands."

McCoy will ask the Senate Rules Committee to assign SJR4 to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee for further discussion.

---

E-mail: awelling@desnews.com