South Dakota has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, resulting in new eligibility for health coverage for about 52,000 residents of the state, including many members of South Dakota tribes, according to CMS.
The state will be able to offer all adults aged 19 to 64 with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($20,120) comprehensive health coverage through Medicaid.
As of July 1, thousands of South Dakotans who applied for coverage started receiving full Medicaid benefits, including access to primary, preventive and emergency care, as well as substance abuse treatment and prescription drug benefits.
Under the ACA, states have the ability to expand Medicaid coverage. With the addition of South Dakota, 39 states and the District of Columbia have done so.
South Dakota will receive additional federal funding through the American Rescue Plan, which incentivized states that have not expanded Medicaid coverage by offering a five-percentage point increase in the regular federal matching rate for most Medicaid services for two years. States that expand Medicaid also qualify for the 90 percent federal matching funds available through the ACA for services provided to certain Medicaid expansion enrollees, meaning that the federal government pays 90 percent of the costs and the state pays 10 percent.
With almost 94 million members, Medicaid, combined with the Children's Health Insurance Program, remains the largest source of health coverage in the U.S.
"If all remaining states were to expand their Medicaid programs under the ACA, as many as 4 million more un- or under-insured individuals could enroll in high-quality, affordable health care coverage through Medicaid," CMS said in a June 30 news release. "Specifically, the number of Black adults eligible for Medicaid would be almost five times greater, and six times greater for Hispanic adults."