Utah Legislature 2010: Social safety nets under the budget microscope

Continuing shortfalls in tax revenue for the state could dramatically curtail programs for the disabled and other social safety net efforts in the department of Health and Human Services — the two most people-oriented agencies in the state government.

Everything from keeping tabs on possible public health threats to the length of time a child can be kept in foster care will be reviewed as legislative leaders look to balance the budget.

Because the departments have cut, eliminated or juggled staff positions and are generally bare bones from the past two years of cutbacks, executives in both departments have been urging legislative leaders to carefully consider the impact in human terms, not just the dictates of the bottom line.

Health care reform legislation will be proposed and likely approved, regardless of what happens with the issue in Congress. Lawmakers advocating an overhaul of Utah's health care system are proposing bills designed to reorient both consumers and medical care providers away from a "sick care" system to an actual "health care" system that is more focused on preventing illness.

Medicaid, also a topic of ongoing debate in Congress, has surfaced as a top cost-containment conundrum in Utah. State lawmakers who oversee the joint state and federal insurance plan for about 190,000 Utahns are between a rock and a hard place — way too little money and way too much demand from laid-off Utahns, who like most working Americans under age 65 lose their insurance coverage when they lose their jobs.

— James Thalman