PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — An expansion of South Dakota's Medicaid program would improve health care for thousands of low-income people and could boost the state economy, but it also could put a strain on medical providers and increase state spending, a task force decided Tuesday.

The task force, appointed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard to study the issue, was set up to identify the advantages and disadvantages of expanding Medicaid. After some last-minute changes are made to its approximately 40-page draft report, the task force findings will be used by Daugaard and the South Dakota Legislature as they decide whether to expand the state-federal program that provides health care for low income people.

Task Force Chair Deb Bowman, a senior aide to the governor, said the 29 members of the panel did a good job of studying the issue without allowing their personal opinions to interfere during a series of four meetings over the past five months.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.