Remember Veterans!

WMBF reported the desperate need for a nursing home for American veterans. South Carolina only has four nursing homes. The Department of Veteran Affairs operates them with the most recent one built in Florence County just last year. It is not enough. not by a long shot.

Nearly 400,000 veterans live in the Palmetto State. According to the U.S. Census, nearly 30,000 live in Horry County alone.

Currently, the closest VA nursing home is in Florence. Administrative Assistant Chip Hardy said they can only provide services to 100 veterans at their facility, which opened last year.

Where will they go when they need skilled nursing care?

South Dakota voted yesterday to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act via a ballot measure. If I’m counting correctly, that leaves eleven states — mostly in the South, and many where sizable Black populations stand to benefit — which have not adopted to expand their Medicaid programs under the ACA (as changed by the Supreme Court to make the expansion optional).

Remember the Veterans. We owe them everything.