Our guest blogger is Emma Sandoe, a Health Care Researcher at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The Utah state legislature has touted its insurance exchange as a successful example of state based reform, and according to Speaker Dave Clark (R), it represents “Utah’s chance to show the federal government that Utah knows what’s best for Utah.” Clark and the Utah state legislature have decided that their version of an exchange is superior to the exchanges in the national health care reform bills, but when looking at the number of individuals covered, this could not be further from the truth.

According to recent Census data, 364,000 people in Utah are currently uninsured. Additionally, according to a recent study from the Urban Institute, as many as 258,000 individuals may be eligible for coverage in the exchange under national health care reform. The remaining individuals would likely be eligible for Medicaid with full Federal funding through 2016.

On the other hand, the health insurance exchange in Utah currently only covers 400 individuals and lacks many consumer protections. Prices within the exchange can be 130 percent more expensive due in large part to a lack of regulation.

A recent bill that has passed the Utah legislature but isn’t yet signed into law does make some improvements to these consumer protections which helps create a more attractive market for consumers and insurers. However, late additions and amendments weakened these reforms. And in trying to improve its broken exchange system, the legislature has borrowed ideas from national health care reform. Now, risk will be calculated over a broader market to avoid adverse selection, Utah will ban insurers from using pre-existing conditions to calculate premium within the exchange, and larger employers would be invited to participate.

Last week, the Utah House passed a bill that would allow the state to opt out of Federal health reform. The state would leave a significant amount of money on the table if it intends to do so. Not only will health reform give states a large increase in Medicaid funding, the legislation gives states additional grants for state funded clinics and an ability to pursue additional coverage programs.

Our guest blogger is Emma Sandoe, a Health Care Researcher at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The headlines from a poll released yesterday by the Zogby International-University of Texas Health Science Center indicate that the public wants Congress to start over with health care reform and take a step-by-step or incremental approach. The GOP has begun to put together their strategy for next week’s bipartisan health care summit and will undoubtedly cite the headlines of these polls as justifying their calls to start the legislative process over.

But looking deeper at the responses reveals that once again the public agrees with the core elements of reform, but is frustrated with the political process. So what Democrats need to do is explain the core elements of health reform to the public without resorting to the same rhetorical strategies that have been used all year. The White House must capitalize on the President’s ability to effectively convey the complexity of the legislation and the problems of the GOP approach, while Democrats should emphasize these findings from yesterday’s poll:

– Most think competent health care must be comprehensive and coordinated (54.9 percent), cost-effective (47.9 percent), and controlled by patient choices (47.1 percent). The bills make great strides in improving coordinated care, giving individuals more options for coverage, and preventing medical bankruptcy.

– 54.5 percent believe employers should be required to offer coverage. The employer mandate is in the House bill and a weaker “free-rider” provision is in the final Senate bill.

– Ideas in the bills are popular such as eliminating the pre-existing condition exclusion (64.7 percent), paying doctors for the quality of care, standardized forms and paperwork (77.3 percent), the health insurance exchange, preventing women from being charged more for coverage (68.4 percent), and promoting prevention and wellness (64.3 percent).

– More Americans (53.1 percent) believe health care is a human right. A core element of the presidential campaign was this very question. The Democrats must argue they disagree with Republicans on this core philosophical question.

As Princeton health economist, Uwe Reinhardt told the National Health Policy Conference “the White House needs to do a much better job of explaining reform to the public.” The summit can give the White House the opportunity to do just that. And this will be most effective if there is a unified focus on the core aspects of the bill rather than attention on the internal conflicts over details of the excise tax, abortion, and the public option.

The public has seen this debate play out publicly over the past year and it hasn’t helped Democrats in the polls. Republicans will attempt to capitalize on these internal disagreements, but Democrats should focus on the core concepts, which are in the bill, that the public wants.