State lawmakers will seek relief for uninsured Nevadans

Kirsten Searer

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.

Nevada needs to chip away at its dismal health insurance situation by focusing on one uninsured group after another, some top Democrats said Monday.

Nevada has fallen from fifth- to fourth-worst in a comparison of each state's rate of uninsured adults, according to a study released last week and highlighted Monday by some Democrats as part of the national "Cover the Uninsured" week.

The study found that Nevada ranks among the worst states in almost every category it measured, with about 450,000 people without insurance.

The state has the country's largest gap between the percentage of whites versus Hispanics with health insurance and the worst rate of insurance among working adults with children at home.

It adds up to struggling families and overcrowded emergency rooms, said Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who noted that medical bills are the largest cause of personal bankruptcies.

Buckley and other legislators hope to start chipping away at the number of uninsured Nevadans by proposing a plan that would offer insurance to some small-business employees in next year's Legislative session.

An estimated 10,000 people could be covered by a program that would use untapped federal funds, according to a consultant who has been looking at the issue.

After that, Buckley said, officials could focus on pregnant women with no medical care. Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus said she would like to look at programs for uninsured disabled people.

Many people in Nevada without insurance have jobs, according to the study. But sometimes they can't afford premiums or their business can't afford to offer benefits, Titus said.

"These are not people out there on the dole," she said.

DeAnna Price, a 39-year-old lupus patient, spoke out at the news conference for more insurance options. She said she is stuck with more than $120,000 in medical bills.

Price, who said she holds degrees in physics and chemistry, has tried to find jobs that offer health insurance but often cannot work regular hours because of her illness, she said.

She now works for an hourly wage as an assistant at Nevada Business Journal, where she said her boss is understanding about her illness but unable to offer her benefits.

"I don't feel I should have to bankrupt myself to have medical care," she said. "I don't feel my employer should have to bankrupt himself to provide medical care."

Jenney Sartin, the executive director of Huntridge Teen Clinic, said she sees too many teens with rotting teeth and poor preventive care because their parents cannot afford to buy insurance.

She, too, has suffered from a lack of medical coverage. She was in a car accident while working as a political consultant and could not work for a year. She still is paying off the debts, she said.

"It's the middle-aged adults like myself and the youth that fall through the cracks," she said.

The state has such high uninsurance rates partly because so many small businesses operate here, Buckley said.

Also, Titus said, many employees work several part-time jobs, meaning they don't qualify for insurance.

The study cited by the Democrats was conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It used statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey.