Voters Have Expanded Medicaid in 6 States. Is South Dakota Next?
We’ve talked before about the growing health care coverage inequality debate. As we’ve written before, the most recent national polling shows large majorities of the public favoring expanding health care coverage to more uninsured Americans.
However, with the debate shifting to the topic of Medicaid expansion, some analysts are warning that the debate on the issue is becoming more political.
In a blog post published Wednesday, health policy expert Dr. Robert McIntyre warned of a possible outcome: “In a time of political polarization, it may seem appropriate to argue, ‘vote one way or another, but at least vote for Medicaid expansion,’ even if that option is less popular than the one that actually enjoys majority support among voters.”
The issue of Medicaid expansion is increasingly hot. According to a CBS News/New York Times poll released Tuesday, 67 percent of voters support expanding Medicaid to cover more low-income Americans, with only 13 percent opposed to expanding the program.
Here in South Dakota, we’re already looking at the next battleground on the way to implementing Medicaid expansion in the state. A proposal to establish a program for low-income people in South Dakota that covers more than 7,000 of our poorest residents could be on Governor Kristi Noem’s desk.
We need to make sure our lawmakers know we won’t stop at 7,000 before we start expanding Medicaid.
What are the chances of this happening?
A poll released by the University of Missouri-St. Louis in November 2017 found 67 percent of voters supported expanding Medicaid, including 64 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats.
Our state also saw another poll released last year, which showed that 69 percent of voters agree that the U.S. should expand Medicaid to cover more uninsured Americans. The following survey results were among 1,092 registered voters:
If you live in South Dakota, what are the chances that you will get to vote on this issue? How will you vote?
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