Join Our Fight to Expand Medicaid in South Dakota

Medicaid Expansion

Bring Federal Tax Dollars Back to South Dakota and Expand Health Care for Over 42,000 South Dakotans
 

What is at risk?

Right now, Washington politicians send South Dakota’s Medicaid dollars to California, New York, and 36 other states to pay for their healthcare instead. That needs to change. It’s time to bring our tax dollars home for healthcare and jobs here — just like North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Idaho have all done recently.

Medicaid expansion would put hundreds of millions of dollars back into our local economy. For hardworking families, it means access to healthcare, less money spent paying off medical bills, and more money available to spend in our local small businesses.

In rural communities, it also means more healthcare jobs and the chance to protect emergency care for our families. Rural hospitals in our state are now at risk of closure. Medicaid expansion will help keep these facilities open for when our families need them most — whether that’s a loved one having a heart attack or suffering a serious injury on the farm.

That’s why doctors, nurses, farmers, small businesses and so many South Dakota organizations are endorsing this campaign to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot. We have the support of one of the broadest coalitions to ever launch a ballot initiative in this state, and we’re just getting started.

Who will Medicaid expansion help?

Medicaid expansion helps parents, farmers, near retirees, small business employees, and South Dakotans who work at jobs that don’t offer healthcare or who simply can’t afford it. They earn too much currently to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford care on their own.

Medicaid expansion will help hardworking South Dakota families who are slipping through the cracks in our healthcare system and rural residents who already have to drive long distances for emergency care. Medicaid expansion will help keep rural hospitals open for when an emergency strikes and ensure that all South Dakota families have access to emergency care — regardless of where they live.

Medicaid Expansion and Cancer
Why Mediciad expansion is so important to early detection and treatment of cancer for ALL South Dakotans. 

Medicaid expansion will promote earlier cancer detection, fewer deaths and improved outcomes for patients.  

• Medicaid expansion is associated with improved rates of colorectal, prostate, and cervical cancer screenings.
• Individuals enrolled in Medicaid prior to their cancer diagnosis have better survival rates than those who enroll after their diagnosis.
• Medicaid expansion has led to an increase in both total and earlier-stage cancer diagnoses in expansion states, while the gap in diagnoses between expansion and non-expansion states has widened.
• Medicaid expansion has been associated with decreased cigarette and other tobacco product purchases, as well as increased access, utilization, and coverage of evidence-based smoking cessation medications.

To improve health outcomes and reduce cancer disparities, South Dakota should fully expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults earning less than $17,609 a year for an individual and $36,156 for a family of four.

South Dakotans Decide Healthcare

We’re proud to join the many organizations that have declared their support for the South Dakotans Decide Healthcare campaign. This is one of the broadest coalitions to ever launch a ballot measure in our state. That’s why we’re proud to be joining this big tent, non-partisan effort, along with doctors, nurses, farmers, small businesses and so many South Dakota organizations — to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot. Learn more about South Dakotans Decide Healthcare here.

For more information or to join the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), please contact Kendra Krueger: [email protected]

Paid for by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, www.fightcancer.org.