Senate Bill 87 passed the South Dakota State House on a 50 to 16 vote and is headed toward the Governor for her signature. The legislation calls for creation of a South Dakota Farm Bureau Health Care plan. Farm Bureau Lobbyist Mike Held says once it’s signed they intend to start offering the program this fall.
He says they had to overcome a lot of misinformation to get the bill across the finish line.
Held says by offering this health care program, Farm Bureau will be able to cover many who have no health coverage at all or are paying exorbitant coverage rates.
Held says an actuarial they hired said after three years they could have 3500 policies which would barely put a dent in the 80,000 people who currently have no coverage. He says the actuarial also determined they’d only have a 1 to 2 percent impact on those covered by the Affordable Care Act.
