REFLECTIONS ON THE VIGIL

by Paul Gibbs

According to an estimate by the Deseret News ,roughly 100 Utahns gathered at the state capitol on Saturday, October 18 for the Healthy Utah Vigil. I tried to get my own count at one point but was interupted, so I'll gladly accept theres. Like any event connected with the Healthy Utah/Medicaid expansion cause, it was a highly emotional one.

 The vigil came at the end of a rough week, where both the Sutherland Institute ("Dedicated to preserving 1952 since 1995") and Forbes magazine ran pieces attacking Healthy Utah. The piece I wrote rebutting Sutherland's ludicrous assertion that Healthy Utah discourages marriage is already the mostly widely read of my blog posts. I haven't written one addressing the Forbes piece because, frankly, it's all in my previous writings. They had nothing new to say, just sort of a greatest hits of fallacious arguments against the program. After these attacks, I wasn't sure I was emotionally ready for the vigil. Especially because I'd already gotten some criticism from people on my side who objected to individual aspects of the vigil. But that's okay. You can't get involved with politics and expect not to get any opposition, and that includes opposition from the people on your side.

But the vigil itself was exactly the mornful yet life affirming experience I had envisioned it being. Those in attendence represented a diverse cross-section of Utahns: Democrats, Republicans, Mormons, Catholics, Atheists, Unitarian Universalists, various races and orientations. What we had in coomon.is that we're Utahns, and that we wants to help those among us who are most vulnerable.

The speakers shared poignant, heartbreaking and inspiring messages. Dr. David Sundwall brought home the message that this isn't a partisan issue by pointing out that he's "a card carrying Republican." He even had the courage to defend one of the staunchest opponents of any form of expansion, Sen. Allen Christensen as "a good man", while disagreeing with him on the issue and pointing out that he's seen.first hand that charity care (which Christensen insists is enough to solve the problem) can't do it alone. This was a difficult and thought-provoking part of the evening for me:  while my first impressions of Christensen were of a friendly and affable guy, his harsh words and refusal to listen have made me come to think of him almost as a comic book supervillain. It's probably good for me to be reminded that, while I strongly believe the ideas and actions of out opponents are immoral, they aren't necessarily bad people, just people being mislead by some very bad ideas.

Arielle Spanville of USARA (Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness) spoke on behalf of some the most commonly marginalized people in the gap, those who suffer from mental illnesses or substance abuse issues. As she pointed out, "it's easier to get heroin in Salt Lake and Utah Counties than to get access to health care.:

The other two speakers were from the coverage gap: Stacy Davis-Stanford spoke about the difficulty of being disabled but not being able to afford to get the diagnosis which would make her qualify for disability coverage, and Melanie Soules, who has managed to get coverage, spoke of how Healthy Utah would have allowed her to get coverage much sooner and lessen the permanent effects of the illness she has now overcome. Both speeches were heartfelt and brought me to tears.

We also premiered a music video about those who are suffering and the need for Healthy Utah:  , "An American Plea".

Two days after the vigil, I have mixed feelings. It was a wonderful. moving, life affirming event. It gave us a chance to mourn and to express hope. But things haven't changed yet. I'm tired of being thanked when I feel like I haven't done anything. I don't know if I've even changed one person's mind. I hope that the spirit of what we did on Saturday will carry over to the legislature in January, and compassion will finally win out. I hope more people will be moved to action to make it happen.