South Carolina's powerful Republican party and its governor, Nikki Haley, dominates the legislature and the state's politics. It has steadfastly refused to even consider Medicaid expansion since the ACA's passage in 2010. However, the mass murder at Emanuel AME church in June has created an upsurge in interest and support for the common sense and compassionate agenda that slain pastor Clementa Pinckney championed in the months and years before his death. Today an op-ed I authored was published in the Charleston Post and Courier, the state's largest paper in support of Medicaid expansion. The beginning of the op-ed sets the tone in challenging the mindset that Medicaid is solely an entitlement:
"One of the misleading features of articles those who disparage Medicaid expansion in South Carolina is the insistence that the program only benefits those who are enrolled in it.
The state’s Republican leaders, from Gov. Nikki Haley on down, uniformly oppose Medicaid expansion claiming that the program is in effect, no more than a welfare program that is unaffordable. There is abundant evidence to contradict these assertions.
Expanding Medicaid to almost 200,000 working South Carolinians who are not covered by their employers would create a substantial number of measurable positive economic benefits. Expansion would directly contribute to the growth of the state’s GDP (gross domestic product), the total annual value of goods and services produced here.
Growing the GDP is a much-prized bragging point for political leaders nationwide, including South Carolina. The injection of more than $10 billion in federal funds in the next five years would produce a profusion of economic growth factors."
The High Cost of Delaying Medicaid Expansion in South Carolina