Editorial: Good news on health insurance

Saturday, Oct. 11, 1997 | 8:44 a.m.

RECENT events are enough to shake your confidence in some of the people we elect.

This week we learned that a plan to study growth could cost more than $1 million.

Also, charges were leveled against city and county leaders over conflicts of interest, and local school officials engaged in a bitter feud rather than focusing on how to educate children.

It makes you question whether anything good is coming out of government these days.

As it happens, that stuff dwarfed a different story that offers more hope.

This one centered on a plan to provide health coverage to uninsured kids.

Gov. Bob Miller this week announced that 20,000 children of Nevada's working poor will become eligible on April 1 for health insurance.

Another 26,800 kids will qualify within two years of that date.

Savings in the state Medicaid program will account for about $7 million to finance the program, while another $13 million will be paid with federal money generated by a cigarette tax that Congress approved this year.

Legislation by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, enabled the state to begin funding the program.

In Nevada, an estimated 69,000 children are uninsured. Clearly, the plan doesn't help all the kids who need insurance, but it's a start.

It'll be up to the next governor and 1999 Legislature to ensure that every Nevada child is covered.