Competing bills raise questions about health care ombudsman

Art Nadler

Wednesday, April 14, 1999 | 10:32 a.m.

A second bill to create a state ombudsman's office could go before the Senate for a vote by the end of the week, the lead sponsor of the legislation said Tuesday.

Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, said Senate Bill 196 would place the ombudsman under the authority of the state Division of Insurance. The ombudsman would have the power to investigate and help resolve complaints from consumers who are having problems with their health insurance companies.

Similar legislation, Assembly Bill 310, is currently being debated in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. It differs with SB196 in that the ombudsman would be placed under the authority of the attorney general's office.

"I want to keep it in the insurance commission because they deal with all health plans now and we have the shell of an office sitting there," Schneider said. "We've identified seven people we can put in this office from the insurance division, and we can add more people."

Schneider said he has won support from the managed care industry and businesses across the state. Offices would be set up, he said, in both Las Vegas and Carson City.

Marie Soldo, executive vice president for government affairs with Sierra Health Services said her health care organization is supporting SB196 over AB310 because the Assembly bill would create an unnecessary office in the attorney general's office and would duplicate services in the insurance commission.

Buckley, the main sponsor of AB310, is planning to pay for the ombudsman's office by charging health insurers $1 per patient a year. Schneider wants to finance the office with $250,000 in state funding. He said he has received positive feedback so far from the governor for financial support.

But Cynthia Bunch, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Health Care Reform Project, said her organization, a grass-roots group that has been pushing for the ombudsman's office, prefers to have the ombudsman under the authority of the attorney general.

"The position would have greater independence if it were in the attorney general's office, rather than the organization that regulates the insurance companies," Bunch said.

Bunch said the compliance officers in the insurance division Schneider refers to have no medical backgrounds, and the ombudsman in AB310 would be required to have medical training.