My article in today's print edition of the Capital Journal looks at some of the ways the health care reform bill will impact South Dakota (and the country) beyond the high profile debates over taxes, Medicare cuts, public options (and/or lack thereof), mandates, and so forth.

Among the areas cited by a few health experts:

• Expanded health insurance coverage

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• More funding for community health centers

• Higher reimbursement for "frontier states" like South Dakota

• Ban on lifetime limits and denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions

• Expanded Medicaid (and its potentially serious effects on state budgets)

I deliberately didn't get into the long-term, big-picture parts of the bill — what effect the bill will have on premiums, to what degree Medicare cuts will come from waste or from valued services, how the bill will impact the deficit, indirect impacts on medical research and entrepreneurship, etc. Those are all valid points for discussion and debate, but I focused on the local, direct impact.