• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A doctor, directors of medical facilities and other health care workers told a state task force Tuesday they believe South Dakota should expand its Medicaid program to provide health insurance to thousands more low-income people.
• They said low-income people without health insurance now delay getting medical care until they are seriously ill because they know they cannot pay the bill. Those people then wind up in emergency rooms and hospitals getting expensive care that could be avoided if they get earlier treatment, they said.
• "They are the working poor. These are the people we are trying to help," said John Mengenhausen, CEO of Horizon Health Care, representing the community health centers that provide medical care to people with fees based on patients' income.
• The 29-member task force of legislators, doctors, health care executives and others was appointed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard to study the issue and identify the advantages and disadvantages of expanding Medicaid in South Dakota. The Legislature this year accepted the governor's recommendation to delay a decision on expanding Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides medical care to low-income people.
• Daugaard did not attend Tuesday's meeting, but has said South Dakota has to study the issue because he is uncertain the federal government can afford to meet its pledge of paying most of the cost of expanding Medicaid.
• Deb Bowman, a senior adviser to Daugaard and chair of the task force, said the group will not recommend whether South Dakota should expand Medicaid, but will instead identify the pros and cons of an expansion. The task force also will recommend the best way to expand Medicaid if the governor and the Legislature decide to do so.
• The task force will hold several more meetings in the coming months before giving a report to the governor and the Legislature by Sept. 15.
• The federal health care overhaul seeks to provide more low-income people with health insurance through subsidized insurance offered through online exchanges. States also have the option of expanding Medicaid to cover people who are considered too poor to get the subsidized private insurance.
• South Dakota's Medicaid program now covers about 116,000 children, adults and disabled people. The expanded eligibility would add an estimated 48,000 peo

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