What You Need to Know About Amendment F

South Dakota voters overwhelmingly passed Medicaid expansion (Amendment D) in 2022, knowing that access to health care hangs in the balance for thousands of hard-working South Dakotans who are caught in the coverage gap.

Without the access to care that Medicaid expansion provides, those who work for an employer that doesn’t provide insurance and those who cannot afford private insurance pay in a human toll – not being able to fill needed prescriptions, plunging into debt and bankruptcy due to health care costs and, sadly, dying from diseases that are treatable if discovered early.

However, during the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers placed Amendment F on this November’s ballot – a measure that disregards the will of the people.

Here are four key things to know about Amendment F:

1. South Dakota voters already decided.
South Dakota’s legislators had more than a decade to address the issue of health care access for hard-working South Dakotans, and that is why voters approved Amendment D in 2022 – to adopt a straightforward Medicaid expansion.

Having access to health coverage can help you be healthy. And, when you are healthy, it’s easier to find and keep a job. In fact, research shows that being in poor health is associated with increased risk of job loss, while access to affordable health insurance has a positive effect on the ability to obtain and maintain employment.

Now, however, legislators want to create needless government red tape and strip health care away from our friends and neighbors when they need it the most.
 
2. Amendment F could cause South Dakotans’ to lose health care.
South Dakotans should oppose Amendment F because it could prevent people from keeping their health insurance and would add unnecessary red tape with confusing requirements and difficulty submitting documentation. Amendment F could take health care coverage away from people who are already working but too young to qualify for Medicare and cannot afford private insurance. Too many of our friends and neighbors must choose between paying for health care coverage out of pocket and putting food on the table.

Making it harder to get coverage in any way leaves many eligible individuals and families without insurance for important and necessary preventive and chronic care services. Without health insurance, they may put off preventative care, leading to health conditions requiring more expensive emergency care, hospitalization and additional unintended expenses. Amendment F causes taxpayers to lose more money.

3. Keeping health coverage through Medicaid expansion makes South Dakota families healthier.
Many South Dakotans who are working - sometimes multiple jobs - still cannot afford health insurance. These are our friends and neighbors who benefit from health insurance through Medicaid expansion. In South Dakota, there is a direct correlation between chronic health conditions and poverty, meaning families financially struggling are far more likely to have medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer – not to mention the medical bills that come with these serious health issues.

Keeping health coverage through Medicaid expansion means more families can avoid serious health risks like delayed care and unfilled prescriptions for chronic health issues.

4. Amendment F is a permanent constitutional amendment that would impose one of the most extreme restrictions on access to health care.
Amendment F would establish new regulations for thousands of South Dakotans to be able to access health care but provides no specifics about what those requirements will actually be. It's just common sense that we should know what a law does before writing it into the Constitution forever.

If you get too sick to work, Amendment F could kick you off your health insurance when you need it most. Imagine going through chemotherapy and having to prove to the government every month that your illness counts as a disability – without making errors on the forms – in order to get your medicine. The last thing someone needs is complicated government paperwork that could cost them their health.

And then there are people like moms and family caregivers – some of the hardest working folks around – and they deserve health care just like the rest of us. Amendment F would create new requirements for Medicaid coverage, and full-time parents and family caregivers would be left out.

If Amendment F passes, South Dakotans who are sick or have a disability keeping them from working will have to repeatedly prove that to the government through complicated paperwork, potentially every single month, or risk losing their insurance. That means South Dakota business owners and doctors will be filling out more forms to keep their employees and patients covered. More paperwork means less care – that’s wrong.

For South Dakota to thrive, we must keep our residents healthy. Vote NO on Amendment F on your ballot this November.

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