Editorial: We don’t need another state agency

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 1997 | 9:57 a.m.

THE last thing Nevada needs is another state agency.

But sure enough, Gov. Bob Miller's budget director, Perry Comeaux, might lead a push to create a new division.

The office would administer health benefits for state employees. It would have to be approved by the next Legislature in 1999.

The idea is a bad one and should be grounded before it even takes flight. We need less government nowadays, not more.

Ironically, it was Miller who made a big issue a few years ago about streamlining state government.

At the guidance of former Budget Director Judy Sheldrew, Comeaux's predecessor, Miller created a reorganization committee -- nicknamed reorg -- to trim the state's bloated bureaucracy.

In his 1993 State of the State address, Miller boasted that the plan would cut $27 million and 266 jobs from state government.

Now Miller's administration wants to return to the days when adding more fat to government seemed like a cure-all for any problem.

True, the insurance fund in recent months has seemed in need of a magic potion.

The state Committee on Benefits recently fired a private company, L&H Administrators, that processed health benefits for state employees.

A former L&H Administrators claims manager, Mary Ferris, has been indicted on charges of bilking the fund of $608,000.

Comeaux, who serves on the Committee on Benefits, maintains that a new state agency could do a better job of handling claims than a private company.

Not only could a new division save taxpayers more than $1 million a year, Comeaux say, but a state division would be "unlikely" to scam state employees.

Nice try, Perry.

First, the state already has checks and balances in place. The Committee on Benefits, the state Insurance Division and Comeaux's own office are supposed to monitor private contractors.

They should do their jobs.

Second, it may be true now that a state agency would spend less to process claims than a private company, but in no time at all, the state agency would probably swell to an unmanageable size.

That's the nature of the beast.

And it's the reason Miller should kill the plan to add another division to state government.