Medicaid Expansion
for SD
THANKS TO SOUTH DAKOTA VOTERS! HOORAY FOR THE VOTE ON NOVEMBER 8!
Now over 40,000 South Dakotans will be eligible for the healthcare they need starting July 1, 2023.
Thank you! Thank you!
We Voted YES on Amendment D!
- - - If you voted for Medicaid expansion, you are undoubtedly saving some lives.
- - - More people will have healthcare?
We imagine the vulnerability of those without health coverage. In the gospel story of the Good Samaritan, we acknowledge the person lying by the road, and ask who is that person today who needs us to get them to healthcare? Opponents to expansion like to point to “able-bodied” people.
Who are they really?:
•the struggling checkout clerks in stores and service stations that you see everyday,
•the landscapers and roofers sweating on a hot day,
•the small farmers and ranch workers who make up our small rural communities,
•the homecare workers giving care in homes of the elderly and people with disabilities, and
•those without much cash for themselves while starting new businesses,
•newly hired workers whose benefits haven’t kicked in yet,
•many low-wage workers in jobs without benefits.
In other words, most who would benefit are already working.
Also, some others are disabled and in the lengthy process to get official designation for their disabilities or, once approved, in the 2-year wait for health coverage to begin.
- - - What about the funding?
As other states are finding to their great advantage, Medicaid expansion is a really good deal for South Dakota. Medicaid expansion costs are split between DC and South Dakota: In general, they pay 90%, the state pays 10%. But it gets even better: SD is offered a big bonus for expanding Medicaid. The state's fiscal note on Amendment D indicates that it will take only $4 million in state funds to get health coverage to over 40,000 South Dakotans for all the total first 5 years of Medicaid expansion!
38 states have done this, and not one has quit! Every state has found the investment is worth it! We have been missing out. Since 2014, South Dakota has refused a total of over two Billion much needed healthcare dollars and the healthcare it would have brought, including support to health facilities, especially rural ones. We’ve missed out on the funds AND on the healthcare AND on the justice.
“Of all the forms of inequality,
injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
- - - Will people be "forced off" their insurance? No one will be forced off. If people who are this low income find they cannot afford the co-pays and deductibles of their insurance, or if it doesn't cover needed medical services, then it is a great thing that they would be able to choose enroll in Medicaid instead. This is also very helpful for workers whose hours and thus incomes fluctuate just above and below the poverty line, which often happens for low-income workers.
- - - What exactly was on the November 2022 ballot?
By passing Constitutional Amendment D, this will allow eligibility for Medicaid for people ages 19 thru 64 with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level.
- - - Meet some South Dakotans impacted in this 18-minute film:
www.fightcancer.org/MedicaidExpansionSD
- - - About the Love Your Neighbor Tour
All faiths share a call to love your neighbor. That was the impetus for the Love Your Neighbor Tour that circled the state in support of Medicaid expansion. Now South Dakotans have shown that we do love our neighbors. We Voted YES!
ACTION NOW:
Working for Medicaid Expansion is life-saving justice work. Now we trust that the state legislature will adjust the rules and budget, including accepting the federal funds.
CCB, 1/14/23