SD Eligibility Change For Prenatal Care In Trouble

A plan to provide government-funded prenatal care to more pregnant women appears headed for defeat in the South Dakota Legislature.

Prenatal care is now provided to women earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The Senate had passed a bill that would have relaxed the eligibility in the Medicaid program to cover women up to 140 percent of the poverty level.

But in a negotiating session Wednesday, House members opposed the measure. The negotiating committee then recommended that the House and Senate reject the bill.

Deb Bowman, a senior adviser to Gov. Dennis Daugaard, says the change is not needed because women who would be covered by the bill will be able to get subsidized insurance beginning next year in the federal health care overhaul.