Utah Legislature: Potential loss of COBRA subsidy worries
jobless  Published: Tuesday, Feb. 16 2010 12:00 a.m. MST  "The
sky isn't falling; it fell a while ago. That's what all this bad
air really is."  That was supposed to be a joke, Rob Manning
said last Wednesday as he waited west of the Capitol for the
northbound 470 bus. His ride home had been "coming any minute
now" for nearly half an hour.  "This is getting past a joke,
like what goes on in there," he said, nodding toward the House
building up the hill to the east. He had been among a throng of
Utahns who had come to speak to the subcommittee of lawmakers
laboring to make ends meet for state public health and human
services programs.  Manning said he couldn't make heads or tails
of the discussion, or anything else that he has experienced
during the six months since he was laid off from a medical
services provider that he declined to name. He hung at the back
of the room and ultimately kept his comments to himself.  "Too
many people talking; too many pe