Voters expanded Medicaid in 6 states. Is South Dakota next?
CONDE, S.D. - Progressives Helped Bring Health Coverage to Tens of Thousands of Uninsured Americans Through Exercise in Direct Democracy: Persuaded Voters to pass ballot measures expanding Medicaid in six states where elected Republicans had long stood in the way.
Now comes the latest test of this strategy from the ballot box: North Dakota South.
An unlikely coalition of farmers, business leaders, hospital leaders and clergymen have coalesced around Amendment D, a ballot measure that would enshrine Medicaid expansion into the South Dakota Constitution, over objections from Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican. It is widely expected to pass next week on Election Day.
It has been 10 years since the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot had to expand Medicaid — the government health insurance program for low-income people — under the Affordable Care Act, and the policy around the issue has changed. Philosophical objections to large government programs are giving way to economic considerations, especially in rural states like South Dakota, where struggling hospitals and nursing homes are hungry for federal reimbursement dollars from Medicaid. p>
If Medicaid expansion passes in South Dakota - a state where Donald J. Trump won more than 60% of the vote the two times he ran featured — proponents say it will send a strong signal to other holdouts to Medicaid expansion, like Texas and Florida. South Dakota is one of 12 remaining states that did not expand, up from 19 in 2016.
"It's getting harder and harder for politicians conservatives to support the idea that the A.C.A. is just one lawsuit away from being repealed or overturned,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a national nonprofit organization behind the “Yes on D” campaign.
>"Our job," she said, "is how to create motley coalitions that deliver the message that expanding Medicaid is good for the economy, brings taxpayers' money back to the states, is helpful for small businesses, and isn't just 'Do you support Obamacare?'"
In the small farming town of Conde, where a road sign puts the population at 140, is exactly the argument Doug Sombke, the president of the South Dakota Farmers Union, makes.
Nationally, an estimated 2.2 million uninsured American adults fall into the " Medicaid coverage gap" because they live in one of 12 states that refuse to expand the program. Too poor to qualify
CONDE, S.D. - Progressives Helped Bring Health Coverage to Tens of Thousands of Uninsured Americans Through Exercise in Direct Democracy: Persuaded Voters to pass ballot measures expanding Medicaid in six states where elected Republicans had long stood in the way.
Now comes the latest test of this strategy from the ballot box: North Dakota South.
An unlikely coalition of farmers, business leaders, hospital leaders and clergymen have coalesced around Amendment D, a ballot measure that would enshrine Medicaid expansion into the South Dakota Constitution, over objections from Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican. It is widely expected to pass next week on Election Day.
It has been 10 years since the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot had to expand Medicaid — the government health insurance program for low-income people — under the Affordable Care Act, and the policy around the issue has changed. Philosophical objections to large government programs are giving way to economic considerations, especially in rural states like South Dakota, where struggling hospitals and nursing homes are hungry for federal reimbursement dollars from Medicaid. p>
If Medicaid expansion passes in South Dakota - a state where Donald J. Trump won more than 60% of the vote the two times he ran featured — proponents say it will send a strong signal to other holdouts to Medicaid expansion, like Texas and Florida. South Dakota is one of 12 remaining states that did not expand, up from 19 in 2016.
"It's getting harder and harder for politicians conservatives to support the idea that the A.C.A. is just one lawsuit away from being repealed or overturned,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a national nonprofit organization behind the “Yes on D” campaign.
>"Our job," she said, "is how to create motley coalitions that deliver the message that expanding Medicaid is good for the economy, brings taxpayers' money back to the states, is helpful for small businesses, and isn't just 'Do you support Obamacare?'"
In the small farming town of Conde, where a road sign puts the population at 140, is exactly the argument Doug Sombke, the president of the South Dakota Farmers Union, makes.
Nationally, an estimated 2.2 million uninsured American adults fall into the " Medicaid coverage gap" because they live in one of 12 states that refuse to expand the program. Too poor to qualify
What's Your Reaction?
