Democrats and South Dakota's low-income workers again have a friend in Senator Stanford Adelstein. Rapid City's most interesting Republican renews his call for the Legislature and Governor Dennis Daugaard to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act:
The proposed expansion would open the Medicaid program to approximately 48,000 people who are unable to afford even subsidized insurance. The argument seems to be that excluding these 48,000 South Dakotans from Medicaid will save us money, but (as I stated in my February 8th post) you and I—the taxpayers—are already paying. The difference is that now we are we are absorbing the expense at a higher cost when treatment is sought at the hospital and in the emergency room [Senator Stanford Adelstein, "Medicaid Expansion Makes Sense," A Way to Go, 2013.12.11].
Expanding Medicaid should be an easy call for the Legislature. We've studied the issue throughly; it's a clear fiscal and moral win for South Dakota. Legislators, make Medicaid expansion Senate Bill 101, fast-track it, and put it on Governor Daugaard's desk before Martin Luther King Day.