Earlier this month we posted a South Dakota News Watch article, Concerns arise as dueling ballot measures both seek to expand Medicaid coverage in South Dakota.
Those concerns have been put to rest.
At Dakota Free Press, Cory Allen Heidelberger reported Monday in Dakotans for Health Withdraws IM 28; Amendment D Now Sole Medicaid Expansion Measure on November Ballot:
In today’s ballot question surprise, Dakotans for Health has withdrawn its Initiated Measure 28, a proposed law to expand Medicaid. Dakotans for Health submitted a petition on May 3 to put its Medicaid expansion measure on the ballot alongside Amendment D, which would write Medicaid expansion into South Dakota’s Constitution. Secretary of State Steve Barnett certified the petition on June 9, and as of this noon, no one had filed any legal challenge against the petition. But today, which was the deadline for both challenges to the IM 28 petition and sponsor withdrawal of any ballot measure, IM 28 sponsor Rick Weiland formally asked the Secretary of State to remove IM 28 from the November ballot. . . .
From a press release from South Dakotans Decide Healthcare, Dakotans for Health Joins South Dakotans Decide Healthcare:
South Dakotans Decide Healthcare, a broad coalition of patient advocates, nurses, healthcare providers, farmers, faith leaders, educators, and more, welcomed Dakotans for Health as a formal member of the coalition. Dakotans for Health will engage their extensive grassroots network to support passage of Amendment D in November.
Zach Marcus, Campaign Manager for South Dakotans Decide Healthcare, said the campaign is grateful for the work Dakotans for Health has done and will continue to do to expand Medicaid coverage. “Medicaid expansion is a great deal for South Dakota. We will bring hundreds of millions of dollars back home, and make more than 40,000 of our friends and neighbors newly eligible for affordable health care. I’m grateful that Dakotans for Health will be a major partner in ensuring this critical Amendment passes in November.”
Rick Weiland, Co-Founder of Dakotans for Health said, “We are grateful to the 24,000 South Dakotans who signed our petition, and the hundreds of South Dakotans who worked tirelessly to get Initiated Measure 28 on the ballot. You showed the huge groundswell of support for Medicaid expansion in our state. After conversations with South Dakotans Decide Healthcare members, we have agreed that the best path forward to accomplishing this goal is to join efforts behind one campaign. We look forward to passing Constitutional Amendment D and ensuring hard working South Dakotans can access the affordable health coverage they need.”
South Dakotans Decide Healthcare has been endorsed by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, AARP South Dakota, South Dakota State Medical Association, South Dakota Nurses Association, South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, South Dakota Education Association, South Dakota Farmers Union, Community HealthCare Association of the Dakotas, Great Plains Tribal Leader’s Health Board, Avera Health, Monument Health, Sanford Health, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, South Dakota Faith in Public Life, and more. It is one of the broadest coalitions to ever launch a ballot measure campaign in the state’s history.
At SDPB, Lee Strubinger explains why this move may help extend Medicaid to more South Dakotans in Health care advocates join to back one Medicaid expansion ballot question, instead of two:
Constitutional amendments are less likely to receive interference from state lawmakers. The Republican-controlled Legislature has been resistant to Medicaid expansion. Republican lawmakers went so far as to try to raise the threshold on constitutional amendments to make expansion tougher.
Medicaid expansion would provide health care coverage for an additional 40,000 South Dakotans. It would cost $1.5 billion over the first five years, with the state's share coming in at $166 million. That's a 90 percent match by the federal government.
That looks like a win for South Dakota.
Image: One campaign, one logo. From the South Dakotans Decide Healthcare website.
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