Lawmaker pulls plan to delay Medicaid, CHIP coverage for new immigrants; poll shows most Utahns opposed mandating such a wait

Sen. Allen Christensen says he is withdrawing legislation that sought to require legal immigrants to reside in the state five years before they could qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).He had said his SB48 aimed to encourage self-reliance and to curb creeping “socialism.” But critics called it a mean-spirited attack against new legal immigrants, who are mostly Latino.“I just didn’t have the political support I need for it,”