SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Democratic Representative Ray Ring of Vermillion says the state's inability to bring more poor South Dakotans into insurance coverage a "moral failure."
Ring says Medicaid, or a similar type of coverage could save the state money.
He believes everyone is entitled to access of some level of health care. He says it sort of implicitly occurs now when people go to the emergency room, but adds that it's the most expensive way to provide health care.
Ring says there are studies in other states showing that when they expand medical insurance to lower income populations, the mortality rate goes down. "People are healthier."
Ring hears from health care professionals about the problems they're experiencing.
He says a Vermillion doctor told him the state needs Medicaid expansion because his diabetic patients, who don't have health care, wait too long to come in a see him. The doctor says they end up losing limbs, eyesight and sometimes their lives.
Ring says better health care for citizens should be an obligation of state government. He says "in a society as rich as ours, we can afford to do that for everybody."
Medicaid expansion is off the table under the Trump Administration with his pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
