Columbia, SC — Should Medicaid be expanded to include those earning up to $15,000 per year, the working poor? Or should we let them continue to use the emergency room for medical care as a presidential candidate suggested?

Gov. Nikki Haley wants to refuse the expansion and have our Legislature find more cost-effective ways to improve the health of South Carolinians.

I’m glad I am not one of the working poor and waiting for that decision. Department of Health and Human Services Director Tony Keck’s three-pronged effort (“Events focus on health care changes,” Dec. 10) should be done anyway. With Keck’s ideas and the additional federal money, maybe our state would come out ahead. Or are his ideas just rhetoric?

When it comes to education, communities and states that do it right now reap the benefits later; the same can be true for our collective health.

Dow Hammond

Lexington