Lawmakers asked to fund early medical treatment for poor children

Kiley Russell

Wednesday, April 14, 1999 | 9:35 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Advocacy groups have told lawmakers that despite the cost the state needs to fund early access to medical treatment for at least some of Nevada's 40,000 to 60,000 uninsured children.

AB5, funding swift treatment for sick children eligible for the Nevada Check-up program, will cost the state about $580,000 over the next two years but could save millions in unrecoverable emergency care costs, supporters said Tuesday.

While the bill wouldn't increase the total number of children allowed into the Check-up program, it would let a child get medical treatment as soon as they apply - something social workers call "presumptive eligibility."

Currently there's a wait of up to 45-days from the time a family completes the paper work to the time a child can get treatment.

"Under presumptive eligibility, you can show up with a sick kid, say at the University Medical Center, and if you appear eligible on the surface, they can go ahead and treat your kid on the spot and sign you up for the program," said Jon Sasser of Washoe Legal Services.

"The chief advantage of adopting presumptive eligibility in Check-up is that it captures kids when they're sick. The low-income working Nevada families which are Check-up eligible often do not think about health insurance until they actually need it," Sasser told the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Currently, there are about 5,000 children enrolled in the health insurance plan for low-income children. Gov. Kenny Guinn has recommended funding for another 5,000 over the next biennium.

Poor and uninsured families delay seeking medical treatment for their children for as long as possible because of the prohibitive cost, Rocio Lopez of the Nevada Empowered Women's Project said after the hearing.

If AB5 is approved, "they wouldn't wait until their kids are severely ill before they get treatment," Lopez said.

As originally written, AB5 would've included presumptive eligibility for pregnant women applying for Medicaid, as well. That provision was amended out because of an estimated $61 million price tag.