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Jan. 26, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Lawmakers told budget cuts would hurt as many as 40,000 poor children

By ED VOGEL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY — As many as 40,000 children from poor families in Nevada might go without health care coverage because the state simply does not have the money to provide it for them, legislators were told today.

Gov. Jim Gibbons wants to cap enrollment in Nevada Check Up — a program to provide health care coverage for poor children — at 25,000 when as many as 40,000 others may meet income eligibility requirements for the program, according to Charles Duarte, administrator of the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy.

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    • Duarte also told legislators that because of the lack of staff, his office has been unable to quickly process the applications of about 5,000 children who want to enroll in the program, which now has about 24,000 enrollees.

    "Does the governor understand just what you said?" asked Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas.

    "We have had multiple conversations (with the governor's staff)," Duarte responded. "We have a lot of applications sitting on desks awaiting review."

    He said 10 people are reviewing applications, compared with 14 during early in 2007 when the state economy was still strong.

    Duarte said the decision to cap Nevada Check Up enrollment and reduce by 5 percent the money the state pays doctors and hospitals who treat patients on Medicaid was based strictly on finances. Medicaid is a health care program for the poor, elderly, blind and disabled.

    "It could be a lot worse," Duarte said in opening discussions with the legislative budget subcommittee, which is hearing the governor's budget proposals in preparation for the legislative session, which starts next week.

    He said the number of Medicaid receipts is expected to increase by 11.5 percent in the next year and another 5 percent in 2010-11. That would bring the number of recipients to 239,472.

    The number of people seeking Medicaid is directly related to the rise in unemployment, he said. Unemployment in the state has hit 9.1 percent, the highest since 1983.

    Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, expressed concern that physicians might not treat children and other people on Medicaid if the money they receive is dropped by 5 percent, following a 5 percent cut last year.

    "You have to do your job," Buckley told Duarte. "Our job is a little different. We have to make decisions on what reductions can be made without harming our system or setting the state back 10 years.

    She also noted that hundreds of pregnant women in the next two fiscal might not have health care coverage, and could simply end up going to emergency rooms for birth.

    "We don't like to see services eroded, but it is a money issue," Duarte said.

    Buckley said it was clear to her that the state cannot place a cap on Nevada Check Up enrollment.

    During the hearing, several doctors said they could no longer treat Medicaid patients if the proposed cuts are approved by the Legislature.

    "There is nothing we want to do more than treat kids," said pediatric physician Mark Barry. "It is extremely difficult to operate under these conditions."

     

    Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.

     

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    Just wondering wrote on January 26, 2009 06:28 PM: PATRICK, are you contemplating your navel, when you come up with your catchy posts?


    It should be illegal wrote on January 26, 2009 06:22 PM: What pops my cork, is the audacity of Buckley and Horsford to lie to Nevada by not revealing how many of these children are the offspring of illegal immigrants...who should not be in this country...period.

    Buckley and Horsford are abetting illegal activities, with state money and programs. It's highway robbery.


    mother wrote on January 26, 2009 06:03 PM: that's it!!! you can bail out corrupt financial institutions, but you cannot bail out healthcare/education/welfare.
    TAKE CARE OF ALL THE CHILDREN, they did not ask for this, instead CRIMINALLY CHARGE THOSE UNEMPLOYED/UNEDUCATED/NEGLECTFUL PARENTS, AND THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO CARELESSLY PROCREATE for 5 minutes of fun.


    patrick wrote on January 26, 2009 06:01 PM: Interesting.

    I'm guessing lots of the "compassionate conservatives" here are first in line to say that abortion should be illegal, yet when it comes time for actually PAYING for that decision, they say "who me?"


    cas127 wrote on January 26, 2009 05:38 PM: "There is nothing we want to do more than treat kids"

    Except get paid fees that make Drs. (by far) the highest paid people in the country - *regardless* of the results they get.

    The internet - BS Slayer.

    Go tell it to 1989, doc.


    Give us the real numbers wrote on January 26, 2009 05:09 PM: As a taxpayer, I want Buckley and Horsford to tell me how many of the 40,000 are children of illegals. My response to them is, if they are illegals, I am sick of being forced to contribute any more of my money to lawbreakers. Not only don't I care if they get medical treatment, I don't want to pay to educate them. I don't want to pay to translate for them. I don't want to pay any more for law breakers. The one thing I will support paying for this group is a one way ticket back to wherever they came from.

    For those who keep talking about free univeral health care and all of the other free things from our government -- do you not comprehend the fact that nothing is free. We the people will be footing the bill for all of this. I don't know about anyone else but I am having a hard enough time stretching the money I have right now.


    Yay wrote on January 26, 2009 04:42 PM: We're number 24,999! Now I can get rid of my baby's ringworm for free!


    aaron wrote on January 26, 2009 04:29 PM: @John

    Very very good point.

    At this point in time, I hardly trust the government to do anything right. One of the few things I still do trust the government to do is keep us safe. Though it is probably not done very efficiently, I still have faith in their ability to keep us secure.

    I believe our national military is doing a good job, but I can't say the same for our local police department.

    More government is hardly ever the answer.


    aaron wrote on January 26, 2009 04:24 PM: @ Johnathan L. Abbinett

    I respect your opinion, but throwing around "YES WE CAN!" does not help prove your position. It makes almost all who didn't vote for Obama discard your opinion, quickly.

    A lot of us folks that don't believe in higher taxes also contribute a good amount of money to charitable causes. It is nice to pick and choose where your money goes.


    John wrote on January 26, 2009 04:16 PM: Why don't all of you who want free healthcare just go beg your neighbors to pay your premiums instead of using the force of law for the same end. No guts? What does the government do so well and efficiently that makes you think they are the answer to healthcare? Social Security? The housing scandal? The bank scandal? Medicare trust fund? Veterans care scandal? Can you think beyond yourselves and the fact that you want someone else to pay for your healthcare? Government corruption got us in this mess and your answer is more government?


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