For nearly a decade, patient advocacy organizations including AARP, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, South Dakota State Medical Association and the South Dakota Nurses Association have tried to convince the state Legislature to expand Medicaid. We’ve pleaded on behalf of more than 40,000 South Dakotans who need access to health care.

We’re done waiting.

Last year, we launched South Dakotans Decide Healthcare to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot with one of the broadest coalitions of support to ever launch a ballot measure in our state.

We’re standing up for parents, employees of small businesses and rural residents who need access to doctors and medication. We’re standing up for hardworking residents who can’t afford health insurance and find themselves facing medical bankruptcies after a single trip to the emergency room. And we’re standing up for South Dakotans who are tired of sending our tax dollars to Washington, D.C., and 38 other states when we could bring that money home to boost our economy and help people in the Mount Rushmore state.

Access to health coverage makes it easier to work, find a new job and succeed in today’s economy. Too often, families without insurance are forced to avoid necessary care for preventive measures or timely early detection screenings that could save lives and taxpayer dollars. The health coverage provided by Medicaid helps reduce the burden of chronic and life-threatening illnesses like cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes by offering access to prevention services, screening and early detection, and affordable treatment and care that improves outcomes and save lives.

The state’s Legislative Research Council found that Medicaid expansion would cover 42,500 South Dakotans and would save the state $63 million in its first two years. Over five years, Medicaid expansion would return more than $1.3 billion to South Dakota from Washington, D.C., at a cost of only $3.8 million. These savings will matter to voters, and South Dakotans Decide Healthcare is the only initiative that will show these savings.

Medicaid expansion will also protect rural health care for farmers and small businesses, protecting our vital agriculture economy. Rural residents already drive too far for health care, and eleven of the state’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure. Rural facilities are often the only source of care for communities and they shoulder the cost of treating uninsured patients. Medicaid expansion will help keep these vital hospitals and clinics open.

Voters in Maine, Nebraska, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma and Missouri have passed Medicaid expansion, thanks in part to broad coalitions and the ability of each campaign to appeal to voters across the political spectrum.

That’s why it’s so important that South Dakotans Decide Healthcare has already been endorsed by our organizations along with the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, South Dakota Education Association, South Dakota Farmers Union, Community HealthCare Association of the Dakotas, Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board, and more.

South Dakotans Decide Healthcare is supported by a non-partisan coalition, well-funded and strategically positioned to win. It has the best fiscal note and the only ballot language that ensures that the will of the voters will be respected and implemented without delay.

More than 40,000 South Dakotans – including parents, farmers and small business employees – are counting on us to get the health care they need. We must unite behind the strongest Medicaid expansion ballot measure to ensure health care access.

Visit SouthDakotansDecide.org to help ensure the most effective Medicaid expansion measure is on the ballot.