Editorial: Plan would lessen state’s health crisis

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 | 5:30 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

Feb. 14 - 15, 2004

Many small businesses in Nevada, particularly those with fewer than 10 employees, do not offer health insurance as a benefit. With their small profit margins, they say they simply cannot afford to buy an insurance policy that would cover their employees. Small businesses cannot turn to insurance companies for relief. Insurance rates are hardly negotiable these days, as insurers point to an ever-increasing number of claims and steadily increasing costs of medical procedures and prescription drugs as reasons why rates must remain high. The inability of small businesses to provide employee health coverage is one of the main reasons why about 400,000 Nevadans depend totally on public hospitals -- or go without immediate treatment -- if they get sick or injured. Local taxpayers end up footing their bills, as shown by last year's bailout of University Medical Center.

A new state legislative subcommittee is working on an answer to this situation. Last year, through a program known as HIFA (Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability), the Bush administration gave states more leeway over federal dollars earmarked for health care. The program invited states to free themselves of rigid federal formulas and come up with programs on their own that will help get more people insured. A bipartisan subcommittee, headed by Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, was formed within the Nevada Legislature to take up this challenge.

Taking shape is a plan that would put currently unused federal dollars to work subsidizing health insurance for employees of small businesses. The HIFA initiative suggested that states make innovative use of federal dollars, including those that are now directed toward the State Children's Health Insurance Program (for low-income families), which states call S-CHIP. In Nevada, S-CHIP has a $91 million surplus, largely due to a lack of applications. Normally, if Nevada does not use federal money it's eligible for, the money stays in Washington. Under HIFA, however, the committee is suggesting that the surplus be used to capitalize a health-insurance pool for small businesses. Subsidized in this way, employers and employees could make affordable contributions, and health insurance could be provided to thousands more Nevadans, including children.

We see this plan as promising and we hope the 2005 Legislature does, too. With the country's fifth-highest rate of uninsured residents, Nevada has lots of room for improvement.