Release: ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPLANATION RELEASED FOR PROPOSED INITIATED CONTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND PROPOSED INITIATED MEASURE, BOTH DEALING WITH MEDICAID EXPANSION

@SoDakCampaigns

ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPLANATION RELEASED FOR PROPOSED INITIATED CONTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND PROPOSED INITIATED MEASURE, BOTH DEALING WITH MEDICAID EXPANSION

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg announced today that Attorney General Explanations for a proposed initiated constitutional amendment and a proposed initiated measure have been filed with the Secretary of State. These explanations will appear on petitions that will be circulated by the sponsor, Rick Weiland, of the initiated constitutional amendment and the initiated measure. If the sponsor obtains a sufficient number of signatures by November 2021, as certified by the Secretary of State, the proposed amendment may be placed on the ballot for the November 2022 general election.

The initiated constitutional amendment is entitled “An initiated amendment to the South Dakota Constitution expanding Medicaid eligibility.”

The initiated measure is entitled “An initiated measure expanding Medicaid eligibility.”

Under South Dakota law, the Attorney General is responsible for preparing explanations for proposed initiated measures, referred laws, and South Dakota Constitutional Amendments. The Attorney General Explanation is not a statement either for or against the proposed amendment.

An initiated amendment to the South Dakota Constitution expanding Medicaid eligibility.

An initiated measure expanding Medicaid eligibility.

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52 thoughts on “Release: ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPLANATION RELEASED FOR PROPOSED INITIATED CONTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND PROPOSED INITIATED MEASURE, BOTH DEALING WITH MEDICAID EXPANSION”

        1. Yeah, you’re right. Besides, you actually need that heated shifter knob in your new Silverado more than that poor lady who really should have that lump looked at but can’t swing it right now because rent.

          1. Yeah… cause scenario that happens all the time….

            You donate all of your personal money for poor lady lump inspections that you want. (kind of weird if you ask me, but you said it). Leave me out of it.

            1. Yes. Because you bear no responsibility for your fellow man. You got yours, the rest can just go die I guess.

    2. I agree; Rick Weiland is a failed candidate and a socialist, big-government type who fits in better with the New Yawkers or Californicators. Why doesn’t he just move away?

      1. “Everything you told me is factually correct, but instead of acknowledging this, I’m gonna distract from the issue at hand by shifting the burden of responsibility onto your shoulders. It’s not our job to fix the problem, but for you to leave.”

        1. That is partially correct. It isn’t our job to fix every single problem. It especially isn’t the Government’s job, as the Government has been shown to be historically bad at fixing problems…often times making them much worse.

          I don’t mean to run with a pin through your bubble garden, but your Utopian state doesn’t exist…and “medicare expansion” sure as hell isn’t going to make things better.

          1. How is Medicaid expansion going to hurt us? MIGHT it cost us a bit more for now? Sure. MIGHT it actually make people healthier AND increase the money in our state coffers? Sure.

            See, that’s the reason for the whole discussion. Getting more and better health outcomes for our citizens is a solvable problem. There’s no reason outside of money that we can’t have good healthcare for everyone.

            2. Medicaid stinks.
              as an example: pediatrician recommended apnea monitor for foster child.
              Medicaid wouldn’t pay for recommended device, (wireless bluetooth sock thing) would only pay for what appeared to be some sort of medieval torture device with a lot of wires. This is shown to foster parents who have already been told to keep anything which might strangle a baby out of the crib. Cue the grandparents’ credit card.
              SMH

            3. We are going to pay millions… look at the details of what the states obligation is under this scheme

    1. Bah. South Dakota ranks 4th or 5th in alcohol consumption nationwide, yet we have a booze tax somewhere in the middle of the pack. If we just taxed in a position proportionate to what we drink, you’d make an additional $45 million/yr – more than enough to offset (and then some!) the cost of expansion… plus we’d all be a bit healthier, right?

      1. Simplistic response, as always with liberals. No thinking involved, just tax people to a better life.

        South Dakotans ranked 11th, not 4th or 5th, at 2.87 gallons per person (2020); I also saw data that South Dakota ISN’T one of the top binge-drinking states either.

  4. Or (gasp) we let people keep their money and spend it as they see fit.

    I know you will justify big government at all cost… there is no expansion of government that liberals don’t like. Your just a silly-commie troll.

    Just more marxist Blah Blah Blah from you. Zero credibility with me.

    1. Oh, so I should have to only pay taxes on those things I agree with? Cool. Oh, but wait. Without those taxes, we have no roads, no police, no fire department, no schools, no aircraft carriers… how you gonna get paid again?

      Then again, we could be helping the working poor avoid catastrophic illness, lower crime rates, greater earning potential, and higher productivity… Maybe that way you can actually get paid more.

      But don’t think about that. It’s Rick Weiland. *F* that guy just because. Now… back to which 22″ chrome wheels look better on your new Silverado.

      1. Maybe you can steal someone else’s money to pay for your anger management therapy?

        Since you really enjoy making other people be “your brothers keeper”…I hear there are some very large communes in old Commie California that you may like. We still live in a free country for now so you are still free to join. I think you’d be happier and I hear they have free haircuts…

        1. That ol’ trope again? Well, because you obviously missed it the first time,

          “Everything you told me is factually correct, but instead of acknowledging this, I’m gonna distract from the issue at hand by shifting the burden of responsibility onto your shoulders. It’s not our job to fix the problem, but for you to leave.”

          Screw you, I like it here. I pay my taxes, live in a nice community, enjoy the fruits of my labor, AND I have enough left over to have a few nice things. I’ll make do with a couple less beers on Saturday if that means one or two more women can have that lump looked at every month.

          Or, we could just appeal to that one guy:
          https://www.openbible.info/topics/jesus_and_the_poor

          …what a socialist marxist commie pinko hippie, right?

          1. It’s not hard to get you riled up!!…either way, look into anger managment…

            This cigar is awesome!

          2. If you truly want to quote and be like Jesus,I can arrange for some people I see around town to come live with you in your house. Your liberal Jesus would have let them in.

            I personally don’t want to live with them because they don’t have the best habits, they can be quite messy and I’m a very mean Republican who believes in old fashioned personal responsibility etc… but don’t let that view constrain you!!!

            If you can provide me a way to meet, I’ll round up some drifters and you can house, feed and provide them healthcare and set a good example for all of the rest of us!

            1. I already pay taxes to do just what you suggest. I have no problem paying a little more, especially if those taxes come from alcohol and tobacco… You know, things I enjoy as well, but have no problem paying a bit more for since I don’t need them as much as the working poor need regular health check-ups.

              Catching disease early will save money down the road, improve overall health outcomes, increase worker productivity, decrease crime, and leave more money in their pocket to spend on things like their own Silverado someday. There’s no down side to this. The economy and healthcare are NOT a zero-sum game. Just because you let more people participate doesn’t mean there has to be less for you… according to recent studies (and I’d be happy to provide links), many states that have expanded medicaid have actually seen a net gain in state revenue.

              I guess if you feel that you’d hurt people just to “pwn the libz”, any sort of good faith discussion with you goes out the window.

  5. And I want 24″ rims on three new Silverado’s…because I can. I like to let the 6.0 liter gas engines idle all day long…on every earth day. Then I dive up and down 10th street revving my engine and honking at shiftless drifters and wino’s that you want to spend tax money on.. you know the undocumented good citizens that consistently make super awesome decisions for themselves and cost everyone a lot of taxpayer money already. And I can do all this in a free country just to piss off liberal retards like you. I bet you’d like to take away that freedom just to support a contingency of welfare baby democrat voters that can be controlled.

    Your just a troll with too much time on their hands. Now, I’m going to go smoke a $50 dollar cigar and donate some money to the NRA in your honor as I think about how many meals I could have bought for all of the starving obese food stamp recipients that we have roaming the state!

    1. I do have a bit of time on my hands today! It’s hot out, and I don’t feel like working (yay Friday!) – being self-employed comes with benefits, I guess.

      Meanwhile, I must admit to a rather heavy foot on my 5.7L Hemi… and yet I still would have no problem letting off the gas every now and again if it can help those less fortunate.

      Oh, and a little tidbit: only lawfully present immigrants qualify for Medicaid.
      https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrants/lawfully-present-immigrants/

      And finally, don’t use the “R-word”, please.

  6. Voting “No” on this

    And putting a sign in my yard..or two.

    Sorry Ike.. you have the same failed big government logic that I’ve heard from every liberal my entire life…seems like all of the problems you cite should have already been solved with the New Deal, Great Society, Obamacare etc…yet you want more and more and it will never end.

    You liberals have never actually solved a problem with any of these ideas. Everywhere you have gotten all of the liberal agenda items you ask for turn into trainwrecks..California, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York.

    Where is the liberal shining city where everything has worked out and got better with liberal policies? Sorry I don’t want to wreck South Dakota with this non-sense..and nothing that has ever come from Slick Rick Weiland and his man-bun son has ever been anything other than non-sense.

    And since I don’t let dumb people and the politically correct crown tell me what their arbitrary, insensitive word of the week is, I’ll keep using the word “retard” whenever I want…including when I’m slowing down the speed on a carburetor.

    1. Well, I’ll just come right out and say it: I hope that Medicaid expansion is just a stepping stone to universal healthcare. Nobody but the most monstrous among us actually want people to get sick and die. I believe the problem is entirely solvable, and that the money is actually NOT the real issue – it’s politics. FFS, the per-capita cost of the USS Gerald R. Ford would fund double what we need to expand Medicaid in South Dakota. Do we really need an 11th supercarrier when the next closest nation has… what, one, maybe two? So while we can argue about your greed til we’re blue in the face, we could actually afford to make sure everyone in the US has adequate healthcare… and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Prove me wrong.

      1. You have greed. For your priorities that you want me to ay for. You pay,I don’t want to.

        1. …and I don’t want another supercarrier, yet there’s two under construction even as we speak. Now what?

  7. NO on both. First of all, Rick Weiland is enough reason to say no. Especially NO to any constitutional amendment. If this gets passed, next it will be applied also to illegals because they will claim discrimination. It’s a first step, as ike wishes for, to socialized medicine. Just vote NO!!!

    2. Please tell us why socialized medicine is in direct opposition to the sanctity of life.

            1. But when a grown person can’t afford insulin, just go die. Sanctity of life is all or none, sister.

              1. Who didn’t get insulin?
                Make up these people who don’t exist.
                Everyone has access to health care. Not everyone has insurance.

  9. Medicaid expansion, no thanks. How about we look into those who are abusing Medicaid so they can afford their I phones, weekend get aways, and still keep up with their “lifestyle” yet refuse to budget in order to pay for their kids medication. Also, those with Medicaid who don’t want to make an appointment at the clinic for their kids drippy nose so instead pull up to the ER at 11 pm because they can be seen right away. Taxpayers are getting screwed over things like this. Don’t expand Medicaid but figure out how to cut off those who are draining the system because they don’t care who is paying.

  10. If Medicaid is so wonderful, can the proponents of these measures care to explain away the correlation between Medicaid expansion and increased opioid overdoses, and now the increased mortality rates due to Covid-19?
    Because there is a correlation. Where Medicaid was expanded, opioid deaths promptly increased. And those same states have higher mortality rates due to Covid-19 as well.
    I cant say what is going on elsewhere, but I have fallen ill while visiting in Massachusetts and can tell you what happens when you go to an outpatient clinic there. God help you if you get sick in Massachusetts!

  11. i have heard people say we can’t not take this free money to help the poor (it’s not free). i have heard people say there are no strings attached to this federal incentive program (there are always strings). i have heard people say the state saying yes to the federal medicaid dollars would create a huge unaffordable ongoing burden after the fed dollars end (they are correct). i have heard people say ‘we should take the fed dollars and have more medicaid for a while, then cut everything when the fed dollars are gone (they are lying or naïve at best). If the opponents of this don’t do a better job than they did opposing the minimum wage bill, we’re going to have increased medicaid which some could use to procure their medicinal pot.

    1. If people realized how bad Medicaid is, how it doesn’t reimburse the providers adequately, they might catch on. They wouldn’t want it.

      40 years ago I saw the writing on the wall in an orthopedic surgeon’s office in Georgia; “This office does not accept Medicaid. If you are a Medicaid patient, please see the receptionist to arrange an alternative method of payment.” That same year it was in the news that Medicaid reimbursement in Illinois had dropped to 17%. Clinics couldn’t keep the lights on.

      There is a reason CMS reports that people on Medicaid use hospital emergency departments at 2-3 times the rate of the uninsured and privately insured: in many areas, nobody else will see them. They have no other place to get medical care.
      My experience with pneumonia in Massachusetts was an eye opener: you present to an urgent care clinic with all the symptoms but no xray is done, no WBC is checked, no antibiotics prescribed, you are sent home with instructions to take cough syrup. Really. That’s what clinics have been reduced to in Massachusetts: in order to save money, they provide as little care as possible to everyone, and hope they get away with it.

      People are dropping like flies from Covid-19 in the blue states, with case fatality rates higher than our own hospitalization rate. What a surprise.
      Covid-19 is 5 times more lethal in Massachusetts than it is in South Dakota. The difference is in the quality of the outpatient treatment.

  12. 70% of Doctors accept new patients that pay with Medicaid. Of the ones that don’t, the vast majority are Dermatologists and Orthopaedic Surgeons, the most overpriced of any medical specialties. Have a young person look it up for you, Ann and stop telling fairy tales about medical care. You left the field decades ago.

    1. January 24, 2019
      “Medicaid enrollees last in line when docs accepting new patients
      “Doctors are accepting new Medicaid patients at a far lower rate compared with new patients on Medicare or private insurance, according to a new study.

      The study, released by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission during its Thursday meeting, examined Medicaid rates by specialty, whether the physician is in a Medicaid expansion state and by managed-care penetration status.”
      https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20190124/NEWS/190129962/medicaid-enrollees-last-in-line-when-docs-accepting-new-patients

  13. Its all about government control and dependence for the Democrats—with other people’s money

  14. Sounds like the majority of folks on this board prefer the status quo. Unfortunately, our current health care system does not serve the interests of ordinary Americans. It is extremely expensive! Americans pay twice as much as people living in other wealthy countries. Why? Because our health care system is rigged in favor of health insurance corporations and the pharmaceutical industry.
    The Affordable Health Care Act (a conservative Heritage Think Tank Plan) failed to address either root problem. Why didn’t Obama address the root of the problem? Cause he was a tool for the wealthy interests. Why doesn’t Trump address the root of the problem? Cause he is a tool as well. The Democratic and Republican Parties are essentially the same. They represent the interests of the wealthy class. And they effectively divide us along cultural issues. We need to wake up to this reality and work together to build a better country that represents the interests of the people instead of the corporations.

    1. the responsible answer is to increase medicaid as much as possible without taking the federal bribe i mean money. inflating medicaid with the short term federal boost is just asking for more pressure to cave in and do an income tax later.

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