Red-state voters back Medicaid expansion, extending ACA coverage – By Steve Benen (MSNBC) / Nov 9, 2022
South Dakota may be one of the nation’s reddest red states, but its voters embraced Medicaid expansion through the ACA anyway.
More than a decade after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, there are still 12 states that refuse to accept Medicaid expansion. Health care advocates in South Dakota set out to lower than number to 11, though they realized that wouldn’t be easy.
After all, South Dakota is clearly a ruby-red state — Donald Trump carried the state by roughly 26 points in 2020 — and Republican candidates scored big victories up and down the ballot yesterday. A Democratic stronghold it is not.
And yet, when South Dakotans were given the option to embrace Medicaid expansion through “Obamacare,” they said yes. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported overnight:
“With 99% of precincts fully reported by 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, 56% of South Dakota voters opted to pass the amendment. The amendment requires the state to provide Medicaid benefits to any person between the ages of 19 and 64 whose annual income is less than $18,000, or “at or below 133% of the federal poverty level, plus 5% of the federal poverty level for the applicable family size,” per the ballot pamphlet.”
