Senator Ronnie Sabb (center), along with other Democrats, urged Governor McMaster and Republicans to expand Medicaid with the help of the federal stimulus law.
Photo provided
South Carolina Senate Democrats, including Senator Ronnie Sabb (D-Williamsburg), gave a news conference on Wednesday, March 31, asking Governor Henry McMaster to expand Medicaid in South Carolina.
According to a press release issued by the Democratic Congress of the Senate of South Carolina, South Carolina is one of 12 in the country that has chosen not to expand Medicaid under the American Rescue Plan, denying access to thousands of Carolinians in the South. South to health care. “It is vitally important to provide medical care to all our employees because it helps our rural hospitals,” said Sabb in an interview on March 31.
Sabb said that there are many people in our communities who do not want to incur bills that they cannot pay, so when they are sick, they do not seek medical help, exacerbating the disease to the point where it takes longer to treat than it would need. they took if they caught the condition ahead of time.
The financing would last two years for states that take advantage of the expansion. Through interviews and public statements, the Associated Press found little change in the 12 states that resisted the expansion of Medicaid: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
McMaster said he does not plan to take advantage of the measure. “Governor McMaster is not for sale, regardless of any ill-conceived ‘incentives’ that Congressional Democrats may present,” said spokesman Brian Symmes in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “What the federal spending plan does is try to offer a short-term solution to a long-term problem.”
The American Rescue Plan, recently approved by Congress and signed by President JOE Biden, includes major incentives for states like ours to expand Medicaid. In addition to the traditional 90% of the cost that the federal government will cover, they will pay an additional 5% of the total cost. South Carolina would be committed to just 5% of the cost of bringing health care to thousands of people under this new plan. “It would be a victory, a victory for rural hospitals and for the people of South Carolina,” said Sabb. He also said that an expansion would aid economic development. “With the additional incentives that the Biden administration put on top of what the Affordable Care Act offered before, it is time for South Carolina to take advantage of this opportunity.”
In addition, Sabb said that expanding Medicaid in South Carolina could help save rural hospitals. Since 2012, four rural hospitals have closed in our state. “This is just another one of those generational moments when we have the opportunity to do something that not only helps people today, but helps generations of people to come and stabilize our hospitals, especially in rural communities.”