Where I Stand — Gov. Kenny Guinn: A healthy plan for seniors

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 12:51 p.m.

Editor's note: In August Where I Stand is written by guest columnists. Today's guest is Gov. Kenny Guinn, who made the Nevada Senior Health Plan a priority of his administration. He writes that Nevada was first among the states to take the lead on this program that protects seniors' savings while allowing them to obtain affordable health-care insurance.

DURING MY recent visit with Las Vegas residents whose lives had been severely impacted by the recent floods, I met a remarkable woman whose experience reminded me how crucial it is that we do what we can to make health care for our senior citizens affordable.

She had lost her home and didn't have insurance. The reason she had canceled her home insurance was because she couldn't afford both the insurance and her prescription heart medication. It is unacceptable to me that our state's senior citizens are forced to choose between protecting their homes and paying for medication that could save their lives.

The tobacco settlement funds that Nevada will soon receive will provide an opportunity to remedy this situation. I'm proud to say it was an opportunity that our state's legislators joined me in taking advantage of. Together, we crafted the Nevada Senior Health Plan, which will use a substantial amount of Nevada's share of the tobacco settlement to allow Nevada's seniors to get insurance coverage for the medication and care they need without having to spend their life savings to do it.

The Nevada Senior Health Plan was approved by the Legislature in the form of two bills. One creates a pharmaceutical insurance program for Nevada's low-income seniors; the other provides nest egg protection for middle-income seniors who require long-term care.

The high cost of pharmaceuticals is an especially pressing concern. It is not unusual for a senior citizen in Nevada to spend $80 a month on prescription medication, and in many senior cases as much as $150 a month. Medicare is the main source of health care coverage for the elderly, but it generally fails to cover the cost of prescription drugs.

Under the Nevada Senior Health Plan, the state will contract with private insurers to obtain affordable pharmaceutical insurance policies for seniors. A senior citizen who purchases such a policy and meets certain requirements will be entitled to a grant to subsidize a portion of the cost. The amount of the grant will depend on the individual's income level and only require a co-payment of between $8 and $15.

The nest egg protection portion of the Nevada Senior Health Plan is designed to prevent seniors from draining their life savings in order to qualify for Medicaid assistance. It is simply wrong to force a person who has spent a lifetime earning and saving to spend down to the level of poverty before the state lends a hand. As part of our nest egg protection plan, if a senior citizen purchases an approved long-term care insurance policy and uses it for at least three years and has an annual household income under $200,000, that person will be eligible for Medicaid.

The nest egg portion of the health plan is set up to benefit those seniors whose income levels are too high to allow them to qualify for Medicaid, but not high enough so that they can afford the enormous cost of health care on their own. As many as 14,000 Nevada seniors fall into this gap.

President Clinton's recently unveiled health care proposal received a lot of attention and a lot of applause -- and rightfully so. But I'm proud to say that Nevada was first to take the lead when it came to innovative, thoughtful and cost-effective health care solutions for senior citizens.

With the Nevada Senior Health Care Plan in place, our state's older residents will be able to enjoy retirement without the undue stress of having to choose between their savings and their health.