Voices for Utah Children Articles
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How the 2025 Federal Reconciliation Bill Harms Utah’s Kids and Families
Reality vs. Rhetoric As Utahns, we claim to value bold ideas and practical solutions. We believe in responsible budgets — but not at the expense of our children’s futures. The new Federal Reconciliation Bill of 2025—dubbed the “One Big Beautiful...
- Type: Article
- Author: Moe Hickey
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Voices for Utah Children Statement on the Risk the Reconciliation Bill Poses to Utah’s Children
We are disappointed in the recent passage of H.R. 1: "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in the House of Representatives which if enacted, will result in thousands of Utah children and their families losing access to health care, food, and other support...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio & Ciriac Alvarez Valle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Work Requirements Threaten Coverage for Thousands of Utahns on Medicaid
Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released its long-awaited Committee bill, and as we expected, cuts to Medicaid are on the table. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would cause 13.7 million Americans to lose their...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Healthcare Isn't the Only Thing at Risk
Medicaid Cuts Don’t Just Hurt Health—They Weaken Utah’s Economy and Workforce Just days before Congress was set to go on recess, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the joint budget resolution (216–214), with all four members of Utah’s...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Voices Statement on the House Budget Resolution
The recent House Budget Resolution proposes $880 billion in Medicaid cuts, a move that would destabilize Utah’s healthcare system. These cuts would affect children, seniors, people with disabilities, and working families while straining hospitals and...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Preserve Medicaid for Utah Families: Vote NO on SB 257
Senator Brammer's SB 257, Medicaid Accounts Amendments, seeks to introduce a broadly defined "Medicaid shortfall," which could trigger unnecessary budget cuts to essential healthcare services. Even though the existing budget processes already allow the...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio
- Category: Updates & Blog
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How Proposed Federal Medicaid Cuts Could Harm Utah Families
When Cuts Don’t Heal As the 119th Congress begins its new term, proposed cuts to Medicaid are once again a major point of discussion at the federal level. Republicans in Congress are preparing to introduce sweeping budget and policy changes through the...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Voices for Utah Children 2025 Legislative Priorities
Looking to the 2025 Legislative Session, Voices for Utah Children remains committed to speaking out for all those Utahns who can’t vote but are greatly impacted by public policy: our kids! Despite an increasingly difficult state policy climate, we...
- Type: Article
- Author: Anna Thomas
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Insights from Our Southern Utah Engagement Events Medicaid is a lifeline for many families in Utah, especially in rural areas where access to healthcare is often limited. This year, we organized two Medicaid-focused engagement events in Southern...
- Type: Article
- Author: Thaiss Del Rio
- Category: Updates & Blog
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2024 State of Kids Coverage Report: The Path Taken & the Journey Ahead
Much has changed since the 2019 State of Children's Health Coverage Report. Over the past five years, we have made significant strides at the local and federal health policy levels shaping access to healthcare for children in our state. The journey has...
- Type: Article
- Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle, Thaiss Del Rio, Laneta Fitisemanu
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Families living with health insurance, and without: New storybook highlights why all Utah children need health insurance Throughout the pandemic, health insurance has been a critical lifeline for Utah families to stay healthy and avoid medical debt....
- Type: Article
- Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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What happened to Coverage for All Kids this Session?
This Session, one of Voices for Utah Children’s top priority bills received very little public attention despite its behind-the-scenes activity. Below we will unpack what happened, lessons we learned, and what we believe the path forward should be so...
- Type: Article
- Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Why is Utah Restricting Medicaid Benefits for Parents? Your Comments are (Still) Needed!
Let's Change this Discriminatory Policy! In 2002, long before the Affordable Care Act, Utah decided to offer limited health benefits to low-income adults, who otherwise could not get health insurance. To help pay for these benefits, the state made the...
- Type: Article
- Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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NEW REPORT: Covering Uninsured Kids Will Save Utah Millions Every Year
Utah has 82,000 uninsured children, according to the most recent Census data, which means an estimated 8.3% of children in Utah do not have health insurance. Utah currently ranks 46th in the nation for insured children. When it comes to addressing this...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jessie Mandle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Coverage for All Utah Kids: A Look at the Benefits and Estimated Costs
When kids have health insurance, they experience many short and long-term benefits: better health outcomes, improvements in their educational achievements-- even higher wages in in adulthood. We know from a significant body of research that kids do...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jessie Mandle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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As Utahns return their ballots and engage with candidates, we want to make sure all Utahns are informed and understand where our future elected officials stand on issues central to Utah kids and families. Here are some questions we are asking- and will...
- Type: Article
- Author: Questions?
- Category: Updates & Blog
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New Data Finds Number of Utah Uninsured Children Increasing at Alarming Rate
Analysis shows 39% increase in the number of uninsured Utah children between 2016 and 2019 An estimated 82,000 Utah children were uninsured last year, a number that has increased by 39 percent since 2016, according to a new report released by the...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jessie Mandle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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More Utah Children Lost Health Insurance in 2019, According to Latest National Survey Last week, the Census Bureau released its annual health insurance data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The alarming top line news is that children’s health...
- Type: Article
- Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Let’s Keep All Families Covered: New Report Finds Number of Uninsured Latino Children in Utah on the Rise 2020 Utah Legislature Made Strides to Help All Children Stay Covered Decades of progress improving health coverage rates for Latino children has...
- Type: Article
- Author: Ciriac Alvarez Valle
- Category: Updates & Blog
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Utah Legislature Funds to Keep Kids Covered!
Voices for Utah Children celebrates the Legislature's support to Keep Utah Kids Covered and fund 12-month continuous eligibility for children on Medicaid, age 0-5. We want to express our gratitude and many thanks to Senator Luz Escamilla and to...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jessie Mandle
- Category: Updates & Blog
