A polling location in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Photo:
Dan Brouillette/Bloomberg News
One lesson from the numerous Covid spending bills is that there’s no such thing as free federal money. But proponents of a South Dakota ballot initiative to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare to lower-income able-bodied adults are telling voters otherwise.
ObamaCare encouraged states to expand Medicaid eligibility to adults earning up to 138% of the poverty line ($18,754 for a single person) by covering almost all of the cost for these new enrollees. While many Republican-led states initially rejected this putative bargain to expand their welfare rolls, some eventually surrendered to political pressure.
In some states where Republican lawmakers didn’t cave, liberals circumvented the legislatures with ballot measures. Voters in Idaho, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah have voted to expand Medicaid. Now liberals want to make South Dakota—one of only 12 remaining holdouts—the seventh.
Amendment D would expand Medicaid to about 45,000 lower-income working-age adults whether or not they work or could obtain coverage through an employer. Supporters, including several large healthcare systems, labor unions and the state medical association have misled voters about the costs and benefits.
Myth one: The expansion will help the needy. The state Medicaid program already covers low-income children, the elderly, pregnant women, the disabled, and parents with household income up to 63% of the poverty line. Many of the newly covered could earn enough by working part-time to get generous subsidies for ObamaCare plans.
Myth two: Amendment D will save the state $60 million. Democrats’ Covid bill last March sweetened the incentive to expand Medicaid by increasing the federal match for traditional beneficiaries by 5% for two years. This would save South Dakota an estimated $110 million during the first two years of the expansion and offset its $50 million cost for new…
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