Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Federal health care law could cost Nevada $574 million, officials say

CARSON CITY — President Barack Obama’s health care law, now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, could cost Nevada an additional $574 million from 2014 to 2019 to cover new recipients, state officials said.

Officials estimate 120,000 to 150,000 people could become eligible for Nevada’s Medicaid coverage, whose cost shared by the federal and state governments.

An advisory committee, working to get Nevada ready if the law moves forward, agreed Friday that any state plan should minimize the impact on Medicaid.

Larry Mathias, a member of the advisory committee for the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, said a guiding principle of any state plan should be protecting the Medicaid program.

The Obama plan would increase maximum income levels to be eligible for Medicaid.

Dale Erquiaga, special assistant to the governor, said the 120,000 to 150,000 potential additional Medicaid participants are in addition to normal growth.

Erquiaga said the state Department of Health and Human Services is working to determine how much more money to include in the 2013-2015 budget to cover the additional enrollment in Medicaid.

The 2011 Legislature allocated $996.4 million to cover the state’s share of Medicaid for the 2011-2013 biennium. It estimated there would be 294,300 recipients this fiscal year and 306,369 in the next fiscal year.

Officials estimate 450,000 Nevadans may be affected by the new health care law that requires individuals to secure coverage.

The federal government is distributing proposed rules, and is requiring the states to meet certain deadlines. But most are waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to make its decision, expected in June, on whether the law is constitutional.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy