According to new ratings from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the best hospitals in the state include government hospitals—i.e., VA care at Sioux Falls and Sturgis:
Five hospitals received top 5-star marks in 2026, up from three last year. The top grades went to Avera Heart Hospital in Sioux Falls, Avera St. Benedict in Parkston, Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls and the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Sioux Falls and Sturgis [Bart Pfankuch, “How SD Hospitals Fared in the Latest Quality Ratings,” South Dakota News Watch, 2026.08.03].
Thanks to those two government providers of health care, South Dakota ranks third in the nation this year for the share of hospitals providing five-star care:
| State | Rated hospitals | 5-star hospitals | Percentage of 5-star hospitals |
| Utah | 29 | 15 | 51.7% |
| Colorado | 49 | 14 | 28.6% |
| South Dakota | 18 | 5 | 27.8% |
| Wisconsin | 86 | 21 | 24.4% |
| Minnesota | 57 | 13 | 22.8% |
| Idaho | 22 | 5 | 22.7% |
| Montana | 20 | 4 | 20.0% |
[Table excerpt from Mackenzie Bean, “States Ranked by 5-Star Hospital Share in 2026,” Becker’s Hospital Review, 2026.07.31.]
CMS gave five stars to 12% of the hospitals it rated this year. 78% of CMS-rated VA hospitals received five stars.
The South Dakota Republican Party isn’t about growth; it’s about keeping Social Security recipients alive long enough to pay the property taxes that sustain red state failure but the state is 51st in elder care!
Contending tribal nations enjoy racial preference lawyers and political appointees in the Trump administration wants to deny Medicaid benefits to some three million Native Americans even after Republicans cut funding to the Indian Health Service. Influenza preys on the elderly and the poor: two demographics South Dakota has in abundance so it comes as little surprise that South Dakota is failing its oldest residents.
There is a growing movement among Democrats and others to fund Medicare for all but I like the idea of rolling the funding for Obamacare, TriCare, Medicare, the Indian Health Service and the Veterans Health Administration together then offering Medicaid for all by increasing the estate tax, raising taxes on tobacco and adopting a carbon tax.