South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard
South Dakotans
want their state to take the Medicaid expansion money by a 63-31 percent margin according to polling done there last month. Their governor, however, disagrees. So does the Republican legislature. It disagrees so much in fact, that they are going to make sure that
the people of South Dakota can't vote for it.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota Committee has defeated a measure that would have asked voters whether the state should expand Medicaid in line with the federal Affordable Care Act.
The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 against the resolution.
The resolution was brought by minority Democrats, and defeated on party lines. Republicans say that it would be "bad precedent" to let voters decide. That's an interesting statement, considering South Dakota was the
first state to adopt statewide ballot initiatives and referendum, way back in 1898. For more than 100 years, that state's voters have been deciding issues for the state, so it's pretty hard to believe that a bad precedent would be set with this one.
If you live in South Dakota, or any state that has refused Medicaid expansion, sign and send this petition to your governor, demanding that they put people before politics and expand health care coverage in their state.