In each decade, one or two public policy issues emerge as thematic. In the 1960s, for instance, it was civil rights and Vietnam; in the 1970s, it was energy and “stagflation”; in the 1980s, tax reform; in the 1990s, welfare reform; in the 2000s, terrorism. For our current decade, health care has come to dominate.
Utah mirrors the nation on this. In a 2016 statewide survey, Utah Foundation found that health care was the number one concern of citizens, ahead of air quality and education. The tone of the debates on health care costs, the uninsured and the role of government in health care have become hotly emotional.
