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hospitals are not paid for that emergency care and cover the loss by boosting charges to patients with private insurance.
• Cathy Brechtelsbauer of Sioux Falls, an advocate for low-income people, said she talks to many who don't qualify for Medicaid but can't afford to buy even the subsidized insurance available under the new health care law.
• "I don't think we can sleep well at night until we get these people covered. These are our neighbors. These are our fellow citizens," Brechtelsbauer said.
• Rep. Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton, leader of the House Democratic minority, said measures seeking to expand Medicaid will be introduced in the legislative session that opens Jan. 14, but lawmakers won't make a final decision until late in the session when they pass next year's state budget.
• "That's a moral imperative. It should not be put off for another year," Hunhoff said. "Most of them are people who are working two or three part-time jobs with low wages. They are working hard trying to provide for themselves, but they cannot begin to buy health insurance in the marketplace."
• President Barack Obama's health care law seeks to provide more people with insurance through subsidized private insurance offered through online marketplaces called exchanges. States also have the option of expanding Medicaid to cover people considered too poor to get the subsidized 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 people, mostly adults without children.
• People earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level -- $15,451 for a single person or $31,809 for a family of four -- would be covered by an expansion. The federal government would fully cover those added to Medicaid's rolls through 2016, and the state's contribution would rise in stages to 10 percent of the medical costs by 2020.
• Federal officials earlier rejected Daugaard's request that South Dakota be allowed to expand Medicaid eligibility only up to 100 percent of the poverty level because those over that mark can qualify for subsidized private insurance. He has said he likely will renew that request.
• Senate Republican Leader Tim Rave of Baltic said he doubts the 2014 Legislature will agree to an expansion covering all the 48,000, but lawmakers would be open to accept a federal waiver that would expand Medicaid to cover some of those people.
• "Certainly, everyone wants to do the right thing for the people who need assistance," Rave said. "We also are reluctant to jump at first into something that we may

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