559: 'It's damning. It's aboslutely horrible.'

Plain Talk

If you get into an accident involving a local political subdivision in North Dakota -- maybe a garbage truck side-swipes your car, or you slip on some ice outside of a school -- you may find yourself dealing with what's called the North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund.

This self-insurance fund, paid for by local entities, handles those claims. And, according to a scathing report from Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread's office, it hasn't been handling them fairly.

"It's damning," Rep. Austen Schauer said on this episode of Plain Talk. "It's absolutely horrible."

Schauer, a Republican from Fargo, sits on the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee, which received Godfread's report. He called NDIRF's treatment of claimants "callous" and "an abuse of public dollars."

He argues that the way NDIRF handles claims, "the victim has to prove they were victimized."

"There's no appeals process other than you hire an attorney," he added.

Schauer says he'd like to see the current fund eliminated, and replaced with something new, be it a new fund with a better governance structure, or a private sector option.

"If there's a legitimate claim, you pay it," he said. "If you have to raise premiums, you raise premiums."

Also on this episode, Chad Oban and I discuss Gov. Doug Burgum's comments about his biggest regret from eight years in office. He says it's not doing more to put the blame for property taxes on the local governments that levy them.

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