Medicaid is a taxpayer-funded program that provides health insurance to low-income individuals and families, including children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Utah Medicaid acts as a crucial safety net for thousands of Utahns who otherwise lack health insurance.
Each state has its own Medicaid program tailored to meet the needs of its people. The federal government provides essential financial support to the program. Currently, it guarantees that it will match the funds that Utah contributes to its program.
For decades, advocates, voters, and legislators have worked to build a robust Utah program that provides access to medically necessary services. Utah’s program includes support for postpartum coverage and access to mental health/dental services. It also targets support to those at the highest risk of becoming homeless.
Utah’s Medicaid program is now at risk of significant federal funding cuts made to offset tax cuts for the wealthiest. These cuts would devastate the Utah Medicaid program.
Congress is currently targeting $880 billion dollars in federal Medicaid cuts over 10 years. If these broad-based Medicaid cuts are implemented, Utah can expect to see a loss of $504,400,000 in federal Medicaid funding for 2026 (1). Now is the time to act and express strong support for sustained federal funding for Utah Medicaid.
The House Budget Resolution currently offers various options for cutting Medicaid.
Proposed Change: Capping the Amount of Federal Medicaid Funding to the States
Through the Medicaid joint financing agreement, the federal government covers 64% of Utah’s Medicaid costs. There is no fixed limit on the funds that Utah receives, so if there is a high healthcare cost year due to a public health emergency, Utah will get more financial support.
This proposed change would fix the amount of money a state could receive based on the number of beneficiaries—no matter the states’ actual expenses. This per beneficiary growth rate would be set lower than the expected growth in Medicaid costs meaning the state would be responsible to cover the gap in funding. Further, the gap would grow larger each year. Capping funding would progressively restrict Utah’s budget and hurt Utah’s ability to support medically necessary services like pharmacy benefits, behavioral health support, chronic condition management, home care, and more.
Proposed Change: Decreased Funding for Medicaid Expansion that Covers Working-Class Adults
Currently, the federal government provides enhanced matching to support states who have expanded Medicaid coverage. This change would drop the percent that the federal government covers from 90% to 64% for Utah. This drop in federal matching could result in lost coverage for 132k Utahns who benefit from this program.
Utahn’s depend on Medicaid. Support sustained funding for a healthy Utah. Call your federal legislators to advocate for sustained funding.
Reach out to policy@utahhealthpolicyproject.org for more information.
Impacts of proposed Medicaid cuts by Utah congressional district (2)
| Representative/District | Number of Constituents Currently Covered by Medicaid/CHIP | Number of Constituents Who Will Lose Coverage Due to Budget Cuts |
| Blake Moore – 01 | 84,576 | 27,000 |
| Celeste Maloy – 02 | 117,935 | 33,000 |
| Mike Kennedy – 03 | 91,294 | 34,000 |
| Burgess Owens – 04 | 85,711 | 19,000 |
Medicaid Covers.1 in 6 Utah Children
Federal government pays 64% of the cost of traditional UT Medicaid
Federal government pays 90% of the cost of UT Medicaid expansion
Medicaid Expansion covers adults with incomes less than 138% of the Federal Poverty Line and was approved by Utah voters in 2018.
