Nevada ranks low in quality of life

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

Nevada's quality of life is among the nation's worst, with high rates of child abuse and elderly suicide and low rates of high school completion and health insurance coverage, a study says.

The study, "Social Health of the States 2003," released this month, ranked the state 46th out of 50 and gave it F's in half of 16 areas examined.

Released by the nonprofit Fordham Institute, the study called Nevada a "social recession state," using economic terms to describe social quality of life.

Marc Miringoff, director for the Fordham Institute for Innovation in Social Policy, publisher of the study, said it paints a picture of Nevada that differs from the boom town often portrayed.

"You have a business section of the newspaper, but you don't have a social section -- and so the good news in recent years from Nevada is only telling part of the picture," Miringoff said.

The study uses federal data to show that Nevada ranked in the bottom 10 nationwide in half of the indicators measured -- health insurance coverage, child abuse, teenage suicide, teenage drug abuse, high school completion, food stamp coverage, homicides and elderly suicide.

Asked about the results, University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociology Professor Bob Parker said it reminded him of when he moved to the area more than a decade ago and read in a financial magazine that the area was "one of the most desirable places in the country to live," based on jobs, housing and low taxes.

"But it didn't use any of these indicators," Parker said. "This is the down side that people don't talk about regarding the economic miracle here."

The study said that three indicators -- child poverty, high school completion and health insurance coverage -- are particularly telling when it comes to a state's social health.

Though Nevada ranked 24th in the country when it came to children in poverty, the state fared poorly in the other two categories.

Only 78 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds who weren't in school during the 1998- 2000 period had earned high school diplomas, ranking the state second to last nationwide in that category.

One of five people under 65 lacked health insurance in the 1999-2000 period, ranking the state 41st.

Frederick Gillis, executive director for the Center for Independent Living, a Las Vegas nonprofit that helps troubled teens, said the high school graduation rates weren't surprising.

"In general education is not highly valued here, since many of the high earners in Las Vegas are not college-educated," he said.

Gillis said it's hard to convince a teen who can earn $60,000 parking cars at a Strip hotel about the importance of a high school diploma.

The nonprofit director, a 30-year Las Vegas resident, sees the impact of another indicator measured by the study in his daily work -- teen drug abuse.

With 16 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds saying they had used drugs in the last month in 1999, Nevada ranked 47th.

"Drugs are readily available here -- especially methamphetamines and speed," Gillis said. "Plus, kids are exposed to drugs, alcohol and sex 24 hours a day -- that's what Las Vegas is about."

As for insurance coverage, Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said that the state's ranking "is appalling.

"This makes a major impact on people's lives ... and leads to adverse health outcomes and even death," she said.

Many of the indicators in the study, she said, can only be improved if the state spends more. She mentioned an increase in funding for children's health insurance that was approved in the 2002 Legislature as an example.

"There are some things only a state can do," she said.

At the same time, she said Nevada will have to look to "innovative ... public-private partnerships ... for answers ... if we're going to climb out of the cellar we're in."

Buckley said some states have explored such partnerships to address the issue of health insurance as well, with plans that split costs between companies, workers and local governments.

One category found Nevada ranked worst in the nation -- the number of households that received food stamps compared to the number that was eligible for the benefit. Only 40 percent of eligible Nevadans received the benefit.

Leah Lamborn, recently named program specialist for food stamps in the state's Welfare Division, also was not surprised by that finding -- particularly since it covered the 1998-1999 period, before her department began trying to reach more people who might need help with getting food on the table.

"In the past, it hasn't been a priority to go out there and tell people about the benefits for which they might be eligible," she said.

The official said increasing benefits in the past was seen as too expensive, since higher caseloads required more workers.