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Daugaard Cans Medicaid Expansion After Pence Chat

Governor Mike Pence expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in Indiana. But now as Donald Trump’s Vice-President-Elect, Pence has convinced our Governor Dennis Daugaard to drop his effort to expand Medicaid in South Dakota:

On Monday, I met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence and discussed the Trump Administration’s plans for repealing or reforming the Affordable Care Act. Based on that discussion, I will not recommend that South Dakota pursue Medicaid expansion in 2017.

Over the past two years, we have been working with the federal government to reduce federal cost-shifting to the state for Native American healthcare, and those discussions led the federal government to change its policy relating to Medicaid reimbursements for Indian Health Service enrollees.

With the national election results, the prospect of reforming Medicaid in our country is real, and I intend to work with the Trump Administration and with our congressional delegation to find a way to leverage the IHS policy change to improve access to health care through Medicaid reform. If successful, these efforts could save our state tens of millions of dollars a year [Gov. Dennis Daugaard, press release, 2016.11.15].

“Successful” “Medicaid reform” will mean covering fewer people. Straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act will mean dropping 15.7 million low-income Americans from ACA-expanded Medicaid in 31 states and the District of Columbia. That’s not Making America Great Again. That’s Making America Sick Again.

16 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2016-11-16 07:49

    What a surprise. Wingnuts whine you can’t trust the gubmint to uphold their end then they go out of their way to ensure the gubmint can’t uphold their end. Self fulfilling prophecy at its finest Are you sick of it, yet?

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-11-16 08:13

    For Republicans who want to perpetuate the notion that government is incompetent, electing Donald Trump self-fulfills their prophecy in spades.

  3. Tim 2016-11-16 09:03

    Welcome to our new country, they voted for it, let them live with it. Elections have consequences, its about time people figure it out.

  4. Chip 2016-11-16 09:39

    The silver lining here is that Republicans can no longer hide behind Obama’s veto pen and sling mud at Obamacare. How does that old saying go? The only thing worse than losing an election is winning one? Especially when you have absolutely no workable solutions what so ever.

  5. Grandma 2016-11-16 09:51

    And–it begins. I’m afraid the Governor shows again the ‘good ole’ boys club’ that he’s totally with them. Changes our votes on things we have voted for and then says he will do something and you got it – he changes his mind and makes a choice of his own without even thinking of the people of SD. It’s all his to do what he wants and not the peoples. What is wrong here? I know – I know.

  6. bearcreekbat 2016-11-16 10:22

    Medicaid overhaul by the new administration simply means our local counties will have to raise property taxes to meet the statutory obligations of the County General Relief programs. Hospitals and doctors that provide services to people who would have qualified for federal Medicaid assistance will now have to seek reimbursement from Counties as authorized by statute. Get your checkbooks out SD property owners.

  7. jerry 2016-11-16 10:27

    Pence made the call? Naw, this dagaard is going to take NOem’s place, proof is in the puddin. dagaard wants to go where the real money is. Nothing to see here. Better convert that garage into a bedroom for gramps and grams, cause the nursing homes are full and Medicaid will be broke. Applesauce is on sale, stock up.

  8. jerry 2016-11-16 10:31

    bcb, you are correct. I will bet the republicans will pull another Janklow. Janklow promised lower property taxes and he kept his word for a couple of months and then he raised mill levies for an even higher burden. Koolaid drinkers did not even get it that he took them. More smoke and mirrors. If you are thinking of selling your property, I would say to get that done. Even ag land is going to get hammered, it has to. There are bills to pay.

  9. mike from iowa 2016-11-16 10:44

    But the Poors can always use emergency rooms, right? That’s free, isn’t it? Welcome to Drumpfutopia.

    As an aside-NSA says Russian hack of DNC emails was done for a specific reason. Can you guess what?

  10. Jenny 2016-11-16 11:51

    Man, this is happening faster than I expected. Daugaard is the typical excited lapdog ready to please the big boys.
    bearcreekbat is right – get ready middle class – you’re going to bear the brunt of Trump’s agenda.

  11. Porter Lansing 2016-11-16 14:37

    If Republicans see getting the poor to move out of the state is in their best interest, let it be known … Move to Colorado. You’re very welcome here. You may be on hard luck right now but when that turns around you’ll be even more of an asset to us. There’re lots of jobs and lots of opportunities to start your own businesses. Also, let it be known that the mayors of our two largest cities have vowed to ignore any assault on their sanctuary city status and have publicly vowed to protect EVERY person. Come to Colorado where you’re treated by government and neighbors as a person, not a problem. South Dakota Republicans won’t miss you. In fact, they’ll be glad to see you leave. *feel free to offer the one fingered salute when crossing the border ☚

  12. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-11-16 19:24

    At peril of not properly amplify Senator Billie Sutton’s great disappointment at this retreat, I’m going to cut Governor Daugaard just a little slack. He may recognize that even if he signed an executive order to expand Medicaid now (can he do it unilaterally?), by the time the paperwork and funding and what-have-you got done to sign up the first of those 50,000 South Dakotans who could qualify, it would be January 20, and Il Duce Trump would make the program disappear with the stroke of a pen. I’m not sure it’s practical for a state to sign up for Medicaid expansion at this point.

    That said, it might still be the right thing to do, to create demand, to pressure the President-Elect and Congress to keep that portion of the program. It certainly would have been the right thing to do three years ago and at any point since, to help sick South Dakotans get well. But hey, if Elector Daugaard won’t have the courage to refuse to vote for a dangerous sex offender, or even to make a clearer moral statement during the election, we can’t expect him to lock horns with his party’s incoming President on a major policy issue.

  13. Darin Larson 2016-11-16 19:35

    How much federal funding have we lost out on while 50,000 South Dakotans went without health insurance?

    Over $300 million per year with the effect on GDP for our state of $1.3 billion per year. So, that’s almost $4 billion of GDP over the last three years. Oh well, we need to start weaning the state off of federal funding. When 35-40% of our state budget is federal funding, South Dakota is the federal welfare queen of the Midwest. I guess we will take federal money for everything else when it doesn’t have Obama’s name attached to it. I can’t wait for Trumpcare. We’ll gladly take federal block grants for Trumpcare.

  14. jerry 2016-11-17 08:12

    Cory, you give Daugaard credit for lying. Remember, he wanted votes for the dead guy in Rapid City to re seat David Lust as he was sure that Lust was in favor of Medicaid Expansion. Turns out, just another lie. Watch old Lust though, he is the dude that wants to sell the South Dakota School of Mines after much taxpayer investment.

  15. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-11-17 11:04

    Jerry, I won’t hang Daugaard for a lie there. We outsiders could look at the Lust pick as a signal that Daugaard wanted another ally to push Medicaid expansion, and pre-election, when Clinton’s reported probability of winning was never less than 2/3, it seemed reasonable to bet on the ACA Medicaid expansion still being on the table in 2017.

    On that other note, to whom would we sell the School of Mines? And where would we move the engineering and geology programs?

  16. jerry 2016-11-17 13:37

    Cory, Lust would have to be asked that, he obviously have had a buyer in mind when he announced his intent to go before the legislature to handle his intent. It was documented in the newspapers at the time, so there is that.

    Daugaard has toyed with this moving the ball for his entire stint in the high chair. He wanted the IHS to do this and others to do that before he was going to pull the trigger when all he really wants is the block grant. This is what all John Birch Society members have wanted since forever. Now, it is within their grasp to allow more tax breaks for the wealthy while saddling the balance of Medicaid onto the property taxes of everyone else in the state. Where else will the money come from, not from the Fed as they are washing their hands of it. http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/care/info-2016/family-caregivers-cost-survey.html?CMP=RDRCT-PPI-CAREGIVING-102416

    Privatize Medicare with vouchers, block grant Medicaid and give your Social Security to Wall Street. Here we go. I will agree with you on the lie, I think that I shall call it being reckless with the truth and let it go at that.

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