Rosebud president urges Medicaid expansion, collaboration

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe on Thursday urged South Dakota lawmakers to expand Medicaid and work with tribal officials to fight the opioid and methamphetamine epidemic.

President Rodney Bordeaux gave the fourth State of the Tribes message, asking legislators and Gov. Kristi Noem to promote higher education tuition waivers for Native American students and to make the availability of mental health services in rural areas and reservations a priority. He recommended a government-to-government summit on meth and opioids.

"The epidemic is depriving children of their parents, families of their relatives, communities of their neighbors," Bordeaux said in the speech.