By Ben Lockhart

Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY - Supporters of full Medicaid expansion in Utah officially filed an application Monday at the state Capitol to take the issue to voters in 2018.

The campaign, Utah Decides Healthcare, is pushing for Medicaid eligibility for tens of thousands of Utahns who do not qualify for all- important tax credits on health insurance plans offered on the federal exchange.

"The initiative will provide vitally needed health care to our most vulnerable citizens, hardworking families and low-income individuals who need it the most," Dina Blaes, initiative campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The application was submitted to the lieutenant governor's office, which has 30 days to review the language of the initiative to make sure it meets minimum thresholds such as not being blatantly unconstitutional or nonsensical. If given the green light, organizers will need to collect 113,000 signatures by April 15, 2018, meeting certain thresholds of signees in 26 of Utah's 29 Senate districts, in order to get the initiative on the ballot.

The initiative would expand Medicaid coverage eligibility to all Utahns whose income is 138 percent or less of the federal poverty level, making insurance available to Utahns who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to be eligible for vital tax credits toward any coverage plans on the federal health exchange.

Organizers said the initiative calls for a state sales tax increase from 4.7 percent to 4.85 percent to raise $91 million to pay for the expansion. Those funds would then draw down matching funds of a little more than $800 million from the federal government, according to the campaign.

Signatories on the application include Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Cottonwood Heights, and the Right Rev. Scott B. Hayashi, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. The others are Beth Armstrong, executive director of the nonprofit People's Health Clinic in Park City; Alan Ormsby, directory of AARP in Utah; and Karina Brown, a Logan mother whose own mom was uninsured when she recently died at 64 years old.

Bishop Hayashi said he is optimistic the initiative will both make it to the ballot and pass.

"(Utahns) care deeply about each other," he said. "I'm very, very hopeful. ... I know people are very compassionate."

Bishop Hayashi and other supporters of the initiative say they're encouraged by polling showing most Utahns favor Medicaid expansion.

"We're speaking directly to the people of Utah ... after four years talking about it at the Capitol," he said.

Shiozawa, an emergency room doctor who serves on the Utah Legislature's Health Reform Task Force, was traveling Monday but offered an economic argument in favor of the initiative in a prepared statement.

"We can either be proactive and get some of our federal tax dollars coming back to Utah in the form of federal match grants, or we can sit here doing nothing and watch our homelessness problem and overall health care worsen, while continuing to pay these taxes," Shiozawa said. "That makes no sense at all. I think we ought to let the people of Utah have a say in this."

State lawmakers settled on a significantly limited Medicaid package in 2016, following years of intense debate over whether to implement full expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Most Utahns with dependant children and who make between 55 percent and 100 percent of the federal poverty level fall into a coverage gap - earning too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to qualify for tax credits.

Those tax credits cover 72 percent of the cost of premiums for Utahns on the exchange on average, meaning paying for a plan without them dramatically balloons a person's monthly costs, according to the Utah Health Policy Project, one of the advocacy organizations supporting the initiative.

The coverage gap is even larger for most Utahn adults without dependants. Only a few thousand people in that demographic - largely the most needy, such as those who are homeless - are the target of limited Medicaid eligibility expansion that state officials hope will be federally approved this fall.

In total, about 80,000 Utahns do not qualify for either Medicaid or for getting tax credits toward a plan on the Affordable Care Act, said Jason Stevenson, spokesman for the Utah Health Policy Project.

The initiative would also explicitly outlaw the creating of caps on enrollment in both Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in Utah.

Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who has been at the forefront of the debate over Medicaid expansion in recent years, said last week that the initiative seems to him to be fiscally unsound. That was largely due to Medicaid being an open-ended government program, with no fixed spending limit, he said at the time.

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Credit: By Ben Lockhart Deseret News

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a” (Excellent) of Samsung Property & Casualty Insurance Company (China), Ltd. (Samsung P/C China). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings of Samsung P/C China reflect its balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

Samsung P/C China is a non-life insurance company in China. The company is jointly owned by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. (SFM), Shenzhen Tencent Domain Computer Network Company Limited (Tencent Domain), and four minority shareholders. Samsung P/C China continues to receive explicit and implicit support from SFM, including stable business relationships with affiliated Samsung entities and Korean Interests Abroad (KIA) clients, strong brand recognition, reinsurance support and underwriting know-how. The company also benefits from the distribution capabilities and extensive market outreach of Tencent Domain’s affiliated online platforms and overall management oversight.

AM Best assesses Samsung P/C China’s risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), supplemented by its substantial capital buffer following the capital injection received in 2022, together with conservative investment strategy and relatively low level of underwriting leverage. The company holds a conservative investment appetite weighted towards fixed deposits and high-quality fixed-income products. AM Best views SFM and the parent group of Tencent Domain as being equipped with superior credit fundamentals. These shareholders also are expected to continue to provide financial and non-financial support to Samsung P/C China over the intermediate term.

Samsung P/C China has been one of the fastest growing non-life insurers despite having a market share of less than 1%. The company has built a stable commercial book and a growing personal line portfolio with the support of its two major shareholders. The company offers a wide range of insurance products including commercial property, liability, engineering, accident and health (A&H) and shipping return insurance. Samsung-affiliated businesses and KIA clients are primarily managed by Samsung P/C China’s direct channel, with client management, pricing and underwriting guidance supported by SFM. The company leverages on Tencent Domain’s affiliated platforms to acquire shipping return business and distribute A&H products, while continuing to diversify its third-party business sources by partnering with brokers, agents and external platforms. AM Best also views Samsung P/C China’s overall risk management practices as appropriate for its risk profile.

Samsung P/C China has delivered improved operating results despite a low single-digit return-on-equity in 2025. Group-related commercial business from the affiliated Samsung entities and KIA has been profitable and stabilises the company’s underwriting profitability. Shipping return and health insurance recorded double-digit premium growth and are expected to deliver gradually improving underwriting profits as Samsung P/C China continues to build scale and expand its customer base. Investment returns have been consistently positive, supported by a steady stream of interest income sourced from deposits and fixed-income investments.

Negative rating actions could occur if Samsung P/C China’s balance sheet strength materially deteriorates, due to a significantly reduced level of support from major shareholders, including financial flexibility and reinsurance. Negative rating actions could also arise if there is a reduced level of business and distribution support from major shareholders, which negatively impacts Samsung P/C China’s business profile assessment. While deemed unlikely over the intermediate term, positive rating actions may occur if the company demonstrates sustained and favourable operating performance with no material deterioration in its current balance sheet strength assessment.

Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.

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