Republican and Democratic Party leaders in Pierre are considering some form of Medicaid expansion in the state. The deadline to file bills looms as lawmakers work to determine the best way to ensure health coverage, as well as save taxpayers money.
House Minority Leader Bernie Hunhoff says whether to expand Medicaid is the biggest policy decision lawmakers face this session. Hunhoff says investing in the state's healthcare would create other economic opportunities. He says South Dakota can’t ignore this issue.
"We will save counties and tax payers millions of dollars. We will not only save our rural hospitals and clinics lots of money, we will possibly save some of them—it’s that important, it’s critical to the future of our rural hospitals and clinics. It’ll put something like $300 million into the state’s economy. Many times in some of our most rural areas where that kind of money will create higher wages, more jobs, all sorts of economic activity,” Hunhoff says.
Assistant House Majority Leader Justin Cronin says lawmakers are looking into what the federal government allows the state to do. He says some states have received waivers, but it’s not something the fed likes to give out. But Cronin says states need to participate for the healthcare exchange to be successful, and he hopes South Dakota gets some flexibility.
"But they also need to understand that we run our state how we think it should be best run. Mandates have always been a problem for me personally, and overarching with the state. Give us the flexibility to write something up that we feel would benefit those,” Cronin says.
No legislation for or against Medicaid expansion has been filed yet in 2014. Governor Dennis Daugaard says he doesn't think now is the time to expand the program.