Legislators grapple with how to fund services for elderly, most vulnerable

Calls for summer study would completely overhaul funding model

Rep. Chris Karr on the House floor

PIERRE – Republican leaders in the South Dakota Senate expressed skepticism Thursday about a House bill that effectively puts payments to Medicaid providers on auto pilot.

The House voted Wednesday night to approve a law that requires community-based providers to be reimbursed at 100 percent of the state’s methodology for establishing payments. The 44-25 vote followed emotional testimony about how those providers, including nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, assisted living facilities and providers for people with cognitive impairments, should be reimbursed.

That argument will now spill into the Senate.

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