An effort to allow voters to directly decide whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage failed in committee.
Representative Bernie Hunhoff brought House Joint Resolution 1007 before the House State Affairs Committee. He says the resolution recognizes that the legislature is struggling with figuring out where to go with Medicaid expansion.
“This is absolutely an appropriate way to do it when the legislature is frozen with indecision,” Hunhoff says. “There’s a lot at stake here. Much more at stake than maybe anything else we’ve decided this session. Maybe anything we’ve decided in the last ten years. Lives are at stake, healthcare for 48,000 South Dakotans. Even the very future of our state’s economy when you look at the figures that we’ve seen today.”
But opponents disagree. They say an issue like Medicaid expansion is best decided by the legislature. They say voters can decide at the ballot box whether or not their elected officials are representing their viewpoints properly.