Back in August, the South Dakota Supreme Court said that South Dakota law on victim compensation does not allow our courts to order convicted malefactors to pay back Medicaid for the medical bills incurred by the victims of their malefaction, since Medicaid isn’t technically a “victim.”
As expected, we have a bill to fix that. Senate Bill 7 adds one phrase to the definition of “victim” in SDCL 23A-28-2: “or a joint state-federal funding program for medial assistance.”
Let there be no fight over Senate Bill 7: if some troublemaker busts some skulls, that troublemaker should pay for mending those skills, whether the insurer paying for that mending is a private company or a public agency.