South Dakota has a number of statutes prohibiting “unfair trade practices” in the insurance industry. Among them is SDCL 58-33-74, which limits the value of gifts that your insurer hands out to $25 or less. That limit appears to have been set back in 1992.
Apparently sensing that policyholders deserve more swag than a Natural Wonders of the West calendar and a road atlas, long-time insurance peddler Representative Mark Willadsen (R-11/Sioux Falls) offers House Bill 1053, which would quadruple the insurers’ gift cap to $100.
Now is it any skin off my nose if DeSmet Farm Mutual starts handing out eight-foot aluminum straight edges instead of wooden yardsticks at the State Fair? Well, it is if I’m paying premiums. If my insurance company is making so much money that it can afford to hand out $100 promotional items, it may be time for the actuaries to refigure the risk tables and reduce my rates.
After all, the best advertising in the insurance world is lower premiums.
House Commerce and Energy hears HB 1053 Wednesday at 10 a.m., Room 464 in the Capitol.
Another one of those critical-SD-needs bills.
Wingnut party under Drumpf is nothing if not greedy.
Indeed, once again, legislators love frittering around the edges.