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Utah Governor Talks Immigration, Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, Marijuana During Monthly Address

Andrew Smith
/
Wikimedia Commons
The Utah Capitol Building

In his monthly address, Governor Herbert answered various questions ranging from medical marijuana to Planned Parenthood to the U.S.-China trade war.

On medical marijuana, he said the state government planned to roll out heavily oversighted distribution systems by early March 2020 in keeping with legislation passed.

He then expressed confidence that Planned Parenthood could find other funding after rejecting federal aid and that Utah was also investing more in women’s health.

When asked for his thoughts on immigration and recent Trump administration changes to unauthorized migrant treatment, Governor Herbert said the immigration debate’s status signified “the ongoing dysfunction in Congress.”

“Let’s fix the gate!" he said. "Everyone talks about the wall and the fence, and nobody talks about the gate. How you come into this country - there’s a right way and there’s a wrong way. We oughta in fact provide opportunities for people to come into this country who will be a productive part of our society and allow them to go back home rather than get kinda trapped here in American feel like we’ve gotta hide in the shadows cause if we leave we may not be able to come back again."

On Medicaid, he said despite leaks that two waivers Utah petitioned the Department of Health for might be denied, six more would likely be approved. He said Utah would continue working with the federal government to get all the waivers approved but that people could still currently take advantage of government programs such as Utah’s Medicaid program or the Affordable Care Act, even though private insurance was still better.