Beginning September 20, 2024, South Dakota Voters begin to head to the polls, first by Requesting an Absentee Ballot, and finally on Election Day, on November 7, 2024. For many of the ballot questions, many of which we are encouraging you to vote NO on, there is one ballot question that stands out, and confuses many to whom wish to vote yes or no on the concept.
The concept takes root in the previous election cycle, back when, in 2022, S.D Voters voted on and approved expanding the Federal Medicaid Program under the State of South Dakota. To many, the fear was the means of generating enough revenue stemming from State and Local Taxes to sustain the expanded program, which was expected to cost more than $300,000,000 over 10 years.
Over the past few years, the South Dakota Department of Health was instructed to implement, and put forth rules, regulations, and policies in place to govern the program itself. Medicaid Expansion was approved by the voters on November 8, 2022, and instructed the South Dakota Legislature to implement, and adopt uniform rules and codes to manage the program, while on July 1, 2024 – the the new law went into effect, after no voter, nor the legislature made an effort to repeal the law itself. Over the course of the next twelve to eighteen months, the Department of Health has spent time implementing the program, creating rules, procedures, and policies in place. During this period, it has brought forward a list of rules, codes, and concepts directing the legislature to adopt into law.
In that process, the South Dakota Legislature had adopted by Joint Resolution, those set of rules to be imposed on the Government, allowing the S.D Voters to agree, or to not agree to them, by placing these minimum rules and codes in our State Constitution, thus protecting the interest of the State of South Dakota from both foreign and domestic special interests.
A JOINT RESOLUTION, Proposing and submitting to the voters at the next general election, an amendment to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, authorizing the state to impose work requirements on certain individuals who are eligible for expanded Medicaid.
What the Legislature is Asking the Voters to Approve are a few Simple-Minded, Basic Set of Rules of Engagement to Abide by, Prior to Accepting a “Group of State Citizens” into the Medicaid Expanded Program, if the Voters say yes, these basic set of rules will be codified into “Our” State Constitution, thus restricting the State Government in accepting new applicants of the program.
The Proposed Amendment would effectively change the wording of the Article 21, Section 10 of the South Dakota Constitution, the very ‘section’ adopted by the voters just two years ago this year.
The new Section, if adopted on November 7, 2024, would now read as such:
- The State of South Dakota shall provide Medicaid benefits to any person over eighteen and under sixty-five whose income is at or below one hundred thirty-three percent of the federal poverty level plus five percent of the federal poverty level for the applicable family size, as authorized by federal law as of January 1, 2021;
- Such person shall receive coverage that meets or exceeds the benchmark or benchmark equivalent coverage requirements, as such terms are defined by federal law as of January 1, 2021;
- The State of South Dakota may not impose greater or additional burdens or restrictions on eligibility
or enrollment standards, methodologies, or practices on any person eligible under this section than on any person otherwise eligible for Medicaid under South Dakota law, except that the State of South Dakota may, to the extent permitted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, impose a work requirement on any person, eligible under this section, who has not been diagnosed as being physically or mentally disabled.
If South Dakota Voters approve of Amendment F, a “Qualified Applicant” that is ages 18 to 65 years old, shall be allowed to receive a set of minimum health coverages under the Federal Medicaid Program, under the requirements set forth by the Federal Government on January 1, 2021, to which, the “State” may not impose greater, or additional burdens or restrictions on any person eligible under this section, than any other person eligible under the S.D Medicaid Law. This section of the Constitution shall restrict all Centers to whom provide Medicare and Medicaid Services to the general public to such work requirements, to whom has been medically diagnosed of being physically, or mentally disabled during the year, and is seeking help in obtaining Basic Health Insurance.
By changing our constitution in this manner, it will restrict the South Dakota Government, by means of the Department of Health and Human Services, to only spending tax dollars on very selected, and specific persons” that meet the qualifications laid out in our constitution. These new rules and procedures shall then limit access to, and keep foreign interests from manipulating our tax dollars.
VOTE YES on “F” and Vote to Narrow, and Restrict Medicaid Expansion to an Approved Group of Persons, known to have selected mental and physical disabilities, and to whom can work in S.D, meaning they can and will contribute to the State and Local Tax System, to which helps fund the Federal Medicare and Medicaid Program, to which South Dakota is instructed to Manage today.
