skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Weighing the Expansion of Medicaid Coverage

play audio
Play

Tuesday, February 19, 2013   

PIERRE, S.D. - A hearing will be held Wednesday at the State Capitol in Pierre to hear South Dakotans' views on the possible expansion of Medicaid health-insurance coverage. Senator Jean Hunhoff of Yankton and Representative Scott Munsterman of Brookings, who chair the respective Senate and House Health and Human Services Committees, will preside over the hearing.

According to Dennis Eisnach, volunteer president of AARP-South Dakota, it is critical that Medicaid be expanded to cover people that can't afford the coverage. Otherwise, he said, the responsibility will fall to counties.

"These are people that are below the poverty level, and they are required to take care of them, so they will either take care of them that way or they take care of them through the expansion of Medicaid, which the federal government is going to contribute 100 percent for three years, and then continue to pick it up at 90 percent from there on," Eisnach explained.

Critics of the expansion plan say they don't trust the federal government to live up to its funding promises, leaving the state to shoulder the extra cost.

Eisnach said states can protect themselves from having to pick up too much of the expansion cost if the federal government did not cover it.

"There have been states that have just gone into this expansion and put a trigger on there so that if that happens, the state is not on the hook," he said. "That can always be done. That's one thing you can do."

Eisnach said it would be less expensive to take care of people before they have a critical illness and wind up in an emergency room.

"There's a lot of research out there to back that up, that preventive health care kinds of things is cheaper in the long run than not having people covered until there is a crisis," he noted.

This will be the third public meeting on Medicaid expansion. No formal action is expected at the hearing, but it is anticipated that a bill will be introduced into the Appropriations process.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …


More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social media platform X temporarily shutdown searches of "Taylor Swift" following the release of explicit deepfake images in early 2024. (Mdv Edwards/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021