RAPID CITY, SD — This afternoon, Senate Majority Leader John Thune toured the headquarters of the Children’s Home Society of South Dakota, where he was shown developments in renovation and expansion which the organization have initiated in recent days as they undergo a shift from being centered in the southern Black Hills at Rockerville.
Senator Thune called the work “critically important to our communities this time,” following “I’m grateful that there are people out there who have invested heavily in making it possible for this expansion to occur, because they will be able to do a much better job of serving that community and hopefully giving young people and the families they come from a better start and better future”.
“It’s important for us to build this building for the community or Rapid City, so we can have the resources that the families need and have them all under one roof, whether that is case management outpatient therapy,” said CEO Allison Sanderson on the intentions backing the move “We also have our child advocacy, and then we’ll also have residential treatment in a day school program, so we can continue the collaboration with the community”. She emphasized that providing expanded services to families and decreasing necessary travel times were at the heart of the issue.
As the issue of family health was at the core of his visit, Thune was questioned on his opinions of the proposed two year extension to Affordable Care Act subsidies reported this morning based on a Politico report. “There’s an interest in part of the White House I think and try to transition; to create a bridge from what we have today to a better future,” said Thune. ”That would allow a lot of our healthcare dollars to end up in the pockets of healthcare consumers and families, so they can purchase the healthcare they want purchased. To give them an opportunity not to see the money flow directly to the insurance companies but to the individual healthcare customer”.
Thune followed, saying that Democrats within the senate wished to revisit funding for the ACA and that the GOP intended to give them the opportunity, expressing an amount of optimism for the ordeal “The question is: can we find a path forward that’s bipartisan, and I think it’s out there”.
