Medicaid expansion hurts the very people it was designed to help. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), health care costs have skyrocketed and health care isn’t any better. Expanding government control is the wrong prescription for better access to quality healthcare. Medicaid was intended to help America’s most vulnerable like the elderly and the disabled, but its expansion to able-bodied working adults would create massive strains on taxpayers and shrink resources available for those truly needy populations. South Dakota should reject Medicaid Expansion and support policies that help increase access to quality health care at a price our families can afford.
· Medicaid expansion dramatically increases the size of government by adding thousands of people onto government healthcare. Since 2000, Medicaid spending has grown two and a half times as fast as state revenue.
· In many states that have tried Medicaid expansion, enrollment numbers have exceeded expectations. This means our state could increase our taxes to fund the program or cut other essential services like education.
· Medicaid is simply not cost effective. One out of every five dollars is improperly spent. Insurance companies, not low-income citizens, are the biggest winners of Medicaid expansion.
· South Dakota should look to the right prescription and take an approach of embracing innovation to address gaps in healthcare and focus on weeding out waste, fraud and abuse to free up waiting lists for vulnerable patients.
Medicaid expansion means more government control over your healthcare and it’s the wrong prescription for South Dakota. There are better policies that increase access to quality health care in South Dakota at a price our families can afford.
Add your name to the growing number and sign our petition to find a better way to improve health care for ALL South Dakotans!