Gov. Mike Rounds left the door open Friday for giving Medicaid coverage to 1,400 more pregnant women in South Dakota.

"That's worth taking a look at," Rounds said Friday at a Rapid City Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

In his budget address Tuesday, Rounds told lawmakers he would have liked to raise Medicaid income eligibility for pregnant women from 133 percent of the poverty level to 200 percent. That would allow 1,400 more pregnant women to get Medicaid coverage in fiscal 2009, but Rounds said it would have cost $4 million.

On Thursday, Kate Looby, South Dakota director of Planned Parenthood, criticized the governor for not increasing the income limit for Medicated eligibility.

"Good health care before and during pregnancy for women in poverty will save money in the long run and strengthen families in South Dakota," Looby said.

Looby noted that an additional $4 million would trigger another $6 million in federal matching funds.

Rounds said Friday there were a number of proposals he believed were worthy but didn't make the cut for his budget. They included more money for the poverty program called Temporary Assistance to Need Families, bigger raises for state employees, more money for schools and health-care providers and more money for long-term care facilities - in all, about $12.1 million in more state spending.

"These are all things we would like to have done," he said.

But Rounds said he was reluctant to recommend increases that would have to be sustained annually.

Still, the governor said, he would consider allowing more pregnant women to qualify for Medicaid if lawmakers supported the idea.

"It's a judgment call," he said.

Looby called it "common sense."

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com