PIERRE, S.D.(WNAX)- A bill that would annually adjust the Medicaid rate for community based providers to one hundred percent was debated in the South Dakota House Wednesday.

Sponsor, Representative Chris Karr of Sioux Falls said most providers have been operating in the red for years.

Representative Tony Venhuizen of Sioux Falls says the bill could put future legislators in a financial bind.

The bill passed on a vote of forty four to twenty five and now goes to a Senate committee.

The state has been paying providers about ninety percent of costs under Medicaid reimbursements.