Turns Out Republicans like ACA, Maybe Now Daugaard Can Expand It.

Unfortunately the Republicans treat anything prepared and offered from President Obama the same way my children respond to something that is healthier than chicken nuggets or hot dogs.  

Children: "Eww, no way.  That is totally gross!"  
Me: "It is called lettuce.  It tastes good and is good for you."
Children: "I'm not touching that.  I can already tell it is going to be gross."

After they find the courage to give it an honest try, they are usually okay with it and may find out that they like it.  It turns out that this is true for Republicans and the Affordable Care Act according to a Commonwealth Fund study.

What was more surprising is that people who got the new coverage were generally happy with the product. Overall, 73 percent of people who bought health plans and 87 percent of those who signed up for Medicaid said they were somewhat or very satisfied with their new health insurance. Seventy-four percent of newly insured Republicans liked their plans. Even 77 percent of people who had insurance before — including members of the much-publicized group whose plans got canceled last year — were happy with their new coverage. (New York Times July 9, 2014)

The law is actually working to reduce the number of uninsured significantly.  Time focuses on the impact of the law:

The report from the Commonwealth Fund, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, credits President Barack Obama’s health reform law with an estimated 20 million enrollments as of May 1. The report looks at both people who gained coverage through insurance marketplaces, and people who gained coverage due to provisions in the Affordable Care Act (such as those qualifying for Medicaid and those now covered through the Children’s Health Insurance Program).  

While Daugaard wants to keep working South Dakotans who would qualify from expanded Medicaid, he seems to have no problem letting the state use ACA instead of dealing with its own increases:

The anti-ACA meme is getting harder and harder for South Dakota's leading Republicans to sustain.  A few days ago I noted that Wellmark, South Dakota's Blue Cross Blue Shield provider, is joinng the ACA-created insurance exchanges because, like so many other companies doing the same thing, it sees money to be made in a program that's likely to remain a fixture of American life.  Now comes this news that the South Dakota Health Plan is leaning on ACA as a way of getting better deals for state retirees.  South Dakota GOP leaders are painting themselves into a tight little corner on this issue, so much so that their intransigence, which they probably think, delusionally, passes for political determination, is beginning to take on the look of plain old-fashioned foolishness.  (The Constant Commoner, June 11)

This seems to be exactly what the Republicans feared: people actually happy with the ACA once they get to use it.  

Don't forget, Mike Rounds stands for taking away people's insurance access and for encouraging China to buy South Dakota through the EB-5 program.  

If you elect Susan Wismer, you can have someone that will support a program that improves the lives for South Dakotans and the economy of South Dakota.  So, let's not be afraid of our vegetables and fruit.  It is time to expand Medicaid in South Dakota!