Nonprofit announces health care policy ‘listening tour’; ballot initiative planned
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- Ami Robinson, of Common Sense Health Care for Utah, speaks at a press conference announcing a health care listening tour at the Utah State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
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- Joseph Jarvis, of Common Sense Health Care for Utah, speaks at a press conference announcing a health care listening tour at the Utah State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
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- Jan Garbett, of Common Sense Health Care for Utah, speaks at a press conference announcing a health care listening tour at the Utah State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.
For over 30 years, Dr. Joseph Jarvis has advocated for solutions to what he calls an “uncaring and complicated health care system.”
Jarvis, an occupational medicine specialist, was joined by other medical professionals and members of Common Sense Health Care for Utah at the state capitol on Monday to announce the beginning of a weeklong listening tour through the state to hear people’s stories and listen to personal experiences with the health care industry.
“It is time for the people of Utah to change how health care business is done in the Beehive State. We need a better, simpler health care system that includes every Utahn, no exceptions,” Jarvis said. “It is entirely within our state’s power to pioneer health care reform and it is appropriate that we the people of Utah lead that pioneering effort.”
The listening tour will begin Tuesday at the Provo City Library, followed by a Wednesday stop at the Weber County Library in Ogden. The group will make stops in Park City, Logan, Price and other cities until Feb. 14.
The next step, the group said, is crafting a ballot initiative to bring universal health care to Utah for the 2026 election cycle.
“We want to make sure that we get the policy right. We want to make sure that we hear from everybody — from patients to small businesses — and make sure that we’re covering everyone in the best possible way,” said Daniel Friend, a member of CSHCU. “We want to make sure that when we go on the ballot that we have something that is watertight; that’s the goal. And we know that it’s gonna take time to get there.”
By undergoing the listening tour, CSHCU hopes to learn the priorities for individuals and business leaders to determine an “achievable” timeline for an initiative that would serve as help as many Utahns as possible.
For an initiative to reach the ballot, sponsors would need a currently unknown number of signatures by registered voters. The exact number of required signatures would not be known for this initiative, planned for 2026, until the state knows the number of active voters on Jan. 1, 2025.
Ballot initiatives have a complex recent history in the state. In 2018, Utah voters approved three propositions — legalizing medical marijuana, expanding Medicaid and creating an independent redistricting commissions — all of which were altered later by the Utah Legislature. While members of CSHCU would support finding a legislative way to achieve their goal, it’s not viewed as a realistic option.
“If you look at what the state Legislature is doing this very session, I think the chances of this going through the Legislature are zero or below. So we’re not going to waste our time on something that won’t work. We’re going to go directly to the people,” Friend said.
According to a 2020 report by the Utah Foundation, from 2008-2018 the employee share for health premiums increased by nearly 30% for single plans and 40% for family plans.
Health care is a frequent topic of discussion among candidates for office from the state level to the presidency and has persisted as attitudes and targets change.
Utah also has one of the lowest rates of Medicare enrollees in the country and premiums have consistently dropped since 2020, and the number of uninsured Utahns has gone down since passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2013, according to healthcareInsider.
Still, the issue has been oft discussed by Gov. Spencer Cox, who announced the formation of a collaborative working group focused on lowering costs in 2021 and committed to “solve this problem” when addressing community leaders in 2022.
At the Utah Health Policy Project’s conference in December 2022, state and business officials focused on making health care more affordable for the average family.
Jan Garbett, co-owner of Garbett Homes and briefly a candidate for political office, argued that the current employer-based health care system causes problems for small business owners, and a switch to universal health care would free up time and money for their businesses.
“It’s as much a nightmare for the employer trying to navigate the bureaucracy as it is for the patients,” Garbett said. “I am supporting common sense health care for Utah’s ballot initiative, because it will free small businesses like ours from the bureaucratic burdens of having to provide health insurance.”
As part of the listening tour, the group hopes to hear from individuals with a wide range of experiences, from employers and employees to those who have dealt first-hand with the health care system.
“Some of us have been doing this for decades and I think we feel we’re at a tipping point in terms of the stories we’re hearing from our patients,” said Chris Anderson, critical care specialist. “This needs to be corrected because our patients are suffering — they’re suffering financially, they’re suffering emotionally.”
Ami Robinson, an instructor of biology at Western Governors University, was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2013. After years of treatment with oral medications, worsening symptoms necessitated she switch to a monoclonal antibody treatment, but her doctor requested preapproval from her insurance company.
“I was told that the approval could take some time,” she said. “When you’re losing blood, time isn’t really something you have a lot of.”
After years of jockeying with her insurance company and managing symptoms with different treatments, at times considering paying “tens of thousands of dollars” out-of-pocket, she ended up in a drug study which was successful in helping her.
“My story had a happy ending — I’m healthy right now — but not everyone’s does,” Robinson said.