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not be able to pay for going forward."
• Brechtelsbauer, the advocate for low-income people, said many disabled people of modest incomes are not getting help with their medical bills. That's because they can't get coverage from Medicare, the program mostly for retired people, until two years after they start receiving Social Security disability benefits, she said.
• Jessie Currie, 57, of Sioux Falls, wants to see Medicaid expanded because her medical bills have piled up since she hurt her back in 2009 and became unable to work. She won't start getting Medicare disability coverage until next November.
• "Now I'm just trying to make it," Currie said.
• The South Dakota State Medical Association and the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organization support expanding Medicaid.
• Dave Hewett, president of the Association of Healthcare Organizations, said hospitals and nursing homes will continue to urge the Legislature to expand Medicaid. An expansion would hold down private insurance costs because hospitals would not have to charge other patients as much to cover losses for free care given to low-income people, he said.
• Hospitals nationwide have already taken a cut in Medicare reimbursements to help the federal government pay for the health care overhaul, he said.
• Hewett said supporters of expanding Medicaid know they face an uphill battle in the upcoming legislative session.
• "We may not be successful this year, but the important thing is to keep the issue in front of our elected officials and bring to light any new information that might change some minds," Hewett said.
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