State says Chowning owes $7,800 bill

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.

CARSON CITY - The state says former North Las Vegas Assemblywoman Vonne Chowning owes $7,800 in unpaid premiums for health insurance coverage.

But the seven-term Democrat says the state is all wet, calling the charge "ludicrous" and "not true."

She said she canceled the state coverage because the premiums were too high and there were too many errors in the bookkeeping system.

Jim Wells, financial officer for the state Public Employees' Benefits Program, said Chowning had state health insurance from January 2001 until July 2002 and never paid the monthly premium.

"We have never been able to contact her," Wells told the state Board of Examiners on Tuesday.

The Examiners Board, made up of Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General George Chanos and Secretary of State Dean Heller, took up the issue while meeting to approve writing off $26,392 in bad debts incurred by the benefits program.

Before the board unanimously voted to write off the debt, Heller raised the Chowning issue.

Wells said Chowning did not pay the premium, but the insurance coverage was permitted to continue. That was before he joined the system.

Now individuals' insurance coverage is canceled if they fall 45 days in arrears of their premium payments, he said.

He said that policy wasn't enforced during 2001 and 2002.

From 1999 to 2002 the state health insurance system was in financial trouble, and the state put $41 million into the system to keep it solvent.

Chowning, contacted at her home Tuesday, said she had canceled the policy because the premium for coverage of herself and her husband was too high. A member of the Legislature pays the full cost of the insurance.

She said the system at that time was plagued with "bookkeeping errors."

For example, she said, in earlier years when she carried the coverage, she submitted a claim for dental work. She said the dentist kept calling her when the insurance did not cover the bill. She finally paid the dentist, but she said she was never reimbursed by the state policy.

She said from January 2001 to July 2002 she never submitted a claim.

Chowning also said she has had the same address and same phone number for 20 years.

"To say they could not get in touch with me is strange," she said. "Somebody is making up a story."

Chowning left the Legislature in 2004 .

Cy Ryan can be reached at (775) 687-5032 or at cy@lasvegassun.com.