Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota said on Monday that the nine days remaining in the 2016 legislative session is not enough time to determine if the state government-funded Medicaid health services should cover more people as a part of the federal Indian Health Service policy.
Medicaid covers 100 percent reimbursement for Indian Health Service care delivered at non-IHS facilities. State governments have been paying up to half of those reimbursements. South Dakota, for example, paid $67 million in 2015. Daugaard has stated he wanted to use savings on non-IHS reimbursements to pay for Medicaid expansion.
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“First of all I do not see it as a setback,” Daugaard said Monday about deciding against asking the Legislature to decide on Medicaid expansion before the March 29 adjournment.
He used the words “optimistic” and “hopeful” several times and said he didn’t think the decision would need to wait until the 2017 legislative session.
Daugaard told reporters his administration right now needs time to evaluate the impact of the IHS policy changes, determine the time required to implement changes for more non-IHS providers to become involved in care of IHS patients, communicate the financial impacts to the Legislature and then ask lawmakers to evaluate the information.
Daugaard did not rule out the possibility of a special legislative session later this year to discuss the issue.
Photo by Christian Schnettelker via Flickr CC License
