Editorial: Strategy on insurance issue appropriate
Advocates and state legislators have it right.
A recent report by the National Women’s Law Center points out South Dakota’s lack of a law banning insurance companies from denying coverage to domestic violence survivors.
Most states, though, have laws denying the practice.
It’s often tempting to jump onto a bandwagon and push for laws to keep an array of unwanted business activities from happening.
And there’s no doubt that if any insurance company anywhere in the country, including South Dakota, considers insuring domestic violence survivors as too risky, then government should consider ways to step in to help protect those women.
But instead of falling into knee-jerk reactions to the law center’s report, state legislators and those who work to protect domestic violence survivors in South Dakota are trying to determine whether that particular insurance practice is occurring in this state.
So far, there aren’t any signs indicating that it is.
Given that, the strategy of monitoring the situation and being prepared to intervene if necessary is the right approach.
There’s something positive to be said for proactive moves rather than reactive ones.
However, undue legislation doesn’t really help anyone.
