By Victoria Wicks
A proposal to stop Medicaid eligibility from expanding was killed Monday in the House State Affairs Committee.
Representative Hal Wick introduced House Bill 1244 to prevent Medicaid expansion under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under that act, all U.S. citizens must have health insurance starting next year.
Wick says the cost of increasing the number of people receiving Medicaid is significant. He says this year the state will spend more than $800 million on Medicaid.
Kim Malsam-Rysden is Secretary of Social Services. She tells the committee that freezing Medicaid eligibility where it is now doesn’t allow South Dakota to stay up to date
“This bill would prohibit any future changes to Medicaid eligibility, and regardless of what you think about the governor’s position or other states’ decisions around whether to expand Medicaid or not, having this kind of language in our state laws only produces more red tape that binds our hands when we need to make necessary changes to keep our program up to date,” she says.
Malsam-Rysden says the legislature is involved in appropriations and votes on increased expenses, so Medicaid has legislative oversight. And she says any changes are publicly noticed and involve tribes.
Lobbyists for healthcare and medical associations also opposed the bill.