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No Agreement On South Dakota Medicaid Expansion Yet

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Democrats pushing an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program are working behind the scenes with South Dakota’s health care industry to figure out how to pay for it.

Sen. Bernie Hunhoff, a Democrat from Yankton, on Monday said members of the industry are “working seriously” to figure out how to make an expansion happen.

But with less than half of the legislative session remaining, Democrats haven’t reached an agreement with Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard or the GOP supermajorities in both chambers of the state Legislature.

Daugaard says he’s open to expanding Medicaid to cover the state’s most vulnerable residents, but his main opposition remains how much an expansion is expected to cost South Dakota.

A 2013 study said an expansion would cost the state more than $100 million through 2020.