SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Businesses, nonprofits and healthcare groups are backing Governor Daugaard’s plan to expand Medicaid in South Dakota.
Erik Nelson with AARP says some critics are concerned that it would increase the federal deficit but Daugaard’s plan relies on shifting earmarked federal money in expansion.
Nelson says expansion will save local government millions of dollars in indigent care. He says the proposal is a unique opportunity to solve a long-standing reimbursement issue with Indian Health Services and to help 50,000 South Dakotans.
Nelson says Medicaid expansion will help South Dakota’s older workers. He says twelve thousand of the 50,000 that are eligible are age 45 to 64. They're at a place where they are in need of coverage as they enter the second half of their lives when they will be needing healthcare treatment more often.
The group, “It Makes Sense for South Dakota,” includes the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and about two-dozen health organizations, including the American Heart Association.
If South Dakota lawmakers do approve the Governor's plan, it would be the first to extend Medicaid coverage for Indian Health Services on and off the reservations.
(Thanks Greater Dakota News Service)