SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota will allow insurance companies to decide whether to allow a few thousand state residents to keep their health plans that otherwise would be canceled under the federal health care law.

The Division of Insurance made the announcement Tuesday in response to President Barack Obama's decision Nov. 14 to give companies the option of extending policies for another year. The state still had to approve the changes.

"The federal government was not dictating that we needed to do this. They left it up to the states," said state insurance director Merle Scheiber. "We had a choice."

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.