AFP Applauds Medicaid Accountability Bill
Encourages Passage of Bill Introduced Today Requiring the Express Approval of the Legislature Before Changing Medicaid Program
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Americans for Prosperity today is applauding the introduction of H.B. 1234 by Representatives Haggar (Don), Anderson, Bolin, Gosch, Heinemann (Leslie), Hunt, Langer, Qualm, Stevens, Westra, and Wollmann and Senators Holien, Ewing, Haggar (Jenna), Heineman (Phyllis), and Otten (Ernie).
The bill would require that any attempt to expand or change South Dakota’s Medicaid program receive a full and separate up-or-down vote by the legislature. Americans for Prosperity South Dakota State Director Ben Lee offered the following statement:
“Medicaid Expansion under Obamacare bears too many risks on our state taxpayers for it to be lumped in with funding for schools and roads. We are thankful to see lawmakers introduce a bill that will help bring extra accountability to the debate. Other states who have tried these Obamacare Medicaid Expansion plans have been forced into tax hikes or massive budget cuts when costs and enrollment have surged far beyond the state’s wildest expectations. This bill will help raise the debate from the fog and ensure taxpayers know exactly where their legislators stand. We applaud them for their efforts and look forward to its swift passage by the state legislature.”
AFP South Dakota and its citizen volunteers across the state have been pressuring lawmakers for weeks through phone calls, emails, and radio ads to hold a clean vote on Medicaid Expansion, rather than including it as a part of the state’s 2016 budget.
It was just going to be included in the state budget??!! What, are we now patterning our state fiscal matters after DC??! With our own omnibus bill? Thanks to the sponsors of this bill for bringing this to light; I can’t be the only one who didn’t see this coming.
I keep forgetting to change my moniker; somehow my name got changed to O.
Oh, you’re so silly.
This whole Medicaid charade smells bad. Glad the lawmakers are trying to get a straight up-or-down vote on it.
Yes, that was the original plan. The justification was that the Governor needed expenditure authority in the general appropriations bill to spend the federal dollars coming to South Dakota if the feds granted us the Medicaid waiver the state has applied for.
The general appropriations bill must be passed in order for state government to function. Holding a separate up-or-down vote on Medicaid expansion makes it easier for opponents to stop Medicaid expansion.
“The general appropriations bill must be passed in order for state government to function. ” This is the exact same excuse used to pass the omnibus bill or whatever else the Obama administration has wanted; pass this bill or the government will be shut down.
Single payer is coming. Not in the immediate future, but we will someday figure out that denying folks basic healthcare and profiting from illness doesn’t align well with a civilized society. The dam is leaking, and someday AFP/Koch/Heritage are going to run out of fingers to plug in the holes.
Bernie Sanders likes to say single-payer works in Canada. This is hilarious.
The premiere medical center in the entire nation of Canada is the McGill University Medical Center in Montreal. It’s the best.
90 miles away,the University of Vermont Medical Center is rolling out the green carpet for Canadians, offering cash discounts, to people who can’t get the medical care they need in Montreal. This is going on in Bernie’s hometown of Burlington. Sure, single payer works in Canada. The Canadians come to the U.S. For treatment.
I am still waiting to hear somebody explain that whole thing about how “we spend more money per capita on health care than other countries so the solution is to spend even more money!!”
Well just hope AFP/Koch/Heritage don’t run out of money that will pay for a single-payer system you advocate. And if capitalist pay the taxes I bet they will have a huge say in who gets healthcare & how much. Careful what you ask for the bureaucracy and Washington don’t have a great track record of treating everyone the same. i.e. IHS or VA!
Just take a look at the single payer VA system and the single payer government run IHS. Are you saying this is the wonderful health care we should all have??
To those on the receiving end it always sounds good if someone else is paying for it, whether it’s health care, subsidized housing, food stamps, free phones, subsidized child care, college, etc; these are the people Bernie Sanders panders to. But they don’t realize that there has to be someone else on the other end, the giving end, paying for all this; I guess they think all these freebies come from “Obama’s stash.”
Obamacare expansion in the general bill passed by simple majority. Yikes.
Hope this counter works.