Proponent Arguments

Amendment F is based on the idea that social welfare programs are a hand-up for people facing tough times but should not be a way of life. Vote YES if you agree.

South Dakota has enacted Medicaid expansion, which extends Medicaid health coverage to adults below a certain income who are 18 to 65 years old and not disabled.

Amendment F would allow South Dakota to consider a work requirement for working-age, able-bodied adults who want to enroll in Medicaid expansion. Currently, we can’t encourage these folks to seek work or training to get back on their feet, rather than stay on government programs for the long-term.

By voting YES, we can fix the current language, which prohibits South Dakota from even considering a work requirement.

Our welfare programs should care for those who can’t care for themselves – the elderly, the young, and the disabled. Amendment F allows the state to require able-bodied, working-aged people who enroll in Medicaid to work or go to school, to support themselves and their families.

Our state already does this in other social programs, and we know how to do it.

If Amendment F passes, a work requirement will still require approval from the federal government and from the state legislature. This will allow for reasonable exceptions to the work requirement, like for parents of young children, students, those with serious health issues, or those looking for work.

Voting YES for Amendment F simply creates this option for South Dakota. It doesn’t make sense that our state constitution prohibits our state from ever considering a work requirement.

South Dakotans are hard-working people, and we believe in the value of work. Medicaid expansion, like all social programs, should be a pathway to a better future for those who receive it.

Vote YES on Amendment F.

Tony Venhuizen, State Representative, District 13

Opponent Arguments

Voters approved Medicaid expansion to provide health coverage to thousands of South Dakotans and Amendment F will take away that health coverage for some of those residents.

What Medicaid expansion means for people in the gap – those with low incomes who can’t get insurance through their jobs, and who can’t afford insurance on their own because the costs are sky-high– is that they are no longer forced to choose between medical care or rent, food, childcare, and other necessities. It also means that if they are too sick to work, they do not automatically lose access to care.

I learned how easily life gets turned upside down by a lack of coverage when I was diagnosed with cancer while building a small business. I didn’t have insurance and it was a life-changing, scary experience nobody should have to endure.

If Amendment F is approved, South Dakotans who are employed and doing all they can to support themselves, and their families, will lose healthcare coverage. We know from other states that have taken similar approaches that some will simply get lost in a blizzard of paperwork, putting government bureaucrats between patients and their doctor. Others will have to stop working because they get sick, risking losing coverage when they need it most.

Working full time while receiving cancer treatment drained me. I maxed out my sick time, struggled to get through the workday and was too fatigued at the end of the day to care for my daughter. Fighting cancer is hard work. The thought of having to report my condition to government bureaucrats every month just to keep my health insurance and continue my treatment is terrifying. Medicaid needs to stay in place as it was approved by the voters.

Support working South Dakotans and Vote No on Amendment F.

Sarah Graves, Nursing Student and Volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network