UPDATE - JANUARY 13, 2025:
The U.S. Departments of Treasury and Health and Human Services issued a letter approving a state innovation waiver for Nevada’s public health care option.
In a statement released Monday, Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro says that federal approval will allow Nevada to recoup an estimated $300 million to $500 million in federal funds that will be directly spent on lowering premiums and improving the quality of health care in Nevada.
Leader Cannizzaro says the public option was initially passed as part of her Senate Bill 420 during the 2021 legislative session and was signed into law by Governor Steve Sisolak.
Public option plans will become available on Nevada’s health insurance exchange in late 2025 for the 2026 plan year.
Leader Cannizzaro says that analyses conducted by both the Lombardo administration and the Sisolak administration found that the new public option plans will save Nevadans money, offering individual plans that will be 15% cheaper than average over the next four years.
She further explained that the public option plans will also reduce the number of uninsured Nevadans.
A program that has been praised by experts as one means of addressing Nevada's persistently high uninsured population.
Leader Cannizaro further stated that last year, Associate Dean John Packham of UNR’s School of Medicine told KNPR that the public option will have “positive effects throughout Nevada,” calling it “good policy” for Nevada’s residents, health care providers, and health care facilities.
For more information on the implementation of the program, click here.
ORIGINAL - APRIL 18, 2024:
On Thursday, Nevada State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Children's Advocacy Alliance Executive Director Holly Welborn discussed Medicaid's vital role in providing affordable healthcare options for vulnerable populations in the state.
Protect Our Care, Nevada, a nonprofit dedicated to making high-quality, affordable, and equitable health care available to everyone, hosted the virtual meeting.
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, states now have the ability to extend coverage to new mothers, improving maternal health outcomes. Cannizzaro made it permanent by sponsoring and passing Senate Bill 232.
"Prior to the passage of Senate Bill 232, postpartum care was only covered for the first two months following the conclusion of a pregnancy if you can actually believe that, and that's just really too short of a time even to be able to identify a lot of health issues that can stem from having carried a pregnancy," said Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas).
Cannizzaro asserts that lack of access to postpartum care has led to racial disparities, with pregnancy mortality rates being 2 to 3 times higher for women of color.
Cannizzaro pointed out that two out of three Nevada residents have reported facing challenges in affording healthcare. They cannot pay their co-pays and deductibles or have high out-of-pocket costs. This information has influenced her healthcare legislation during the past few sessions.
In 2021, Cannizzaro sponsored Senate Bill 420, which passed under Governor Steve Sisolak and creates the "Battle Born" public health option plan. Starting January 1, 2026, Nevadans can purchase one of the new Public Option plans through the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange or directly from participating health carriers.
In its simplest form, a public option gives the state negotiating power to help lower the cost and expand access to healthcare in Nevada.
"It will allow Nevadans who are either having issues being able to access health insurance, who wish to purchase some additional health insurance, to go ahead and get the health insurance through the state exchange, but to do so with lower premiums, all while improving healthcare that every resident needs and deserves," explained Cannizzaro.
However, during the 2023 legislative session, Governor Joe Lombardo opposed continuing to implement the 2021 public option legislation. So, we reached out to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to understand their objections.
"The biggest danger in insurance, and why you need regulation of rates, is that the insurer will have rosy estimates, under charge, and then be unable to pay claims. And, so that's the question I would put to the sponsors of this legislation: how are you going to reduce premiums if you're not reducing costs? And, if you're reducing costs, how will you force doctors into this? Because, if you don't pay doctors and hospitals, they won't participate," said Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow in Healthcare Ed Haislmaier.
Two potential issues are that the public health option raises the cost of insurance for middle-class earners, small businesses, and freelance workers and could possibly decrease the quality of care.
"Medicaid managed care essentially brings it down by saying, well, we'll only contract with the doctors who are the cheapest. Well, okay, you only contract with them. That means you're not contracting with your whole range of doctors in your state, so everybody is going to go to fewer doctors, and those doctors are going to be overloaded," said Haislmaier.
Children's Advocacy Alliance Executive Director Holly Wellborn discussed the CAA's campaign to inform residents of "Medicaid unwinding," which is the end of continuous eligibility and automatic renewals under COVID-19 measures that ensured children would be enrolled in Medicaid.
Currently, more than 376 thousand children in Nevada are enrolled in Medicaid.
"We saw that back in August that due to the unwinding and the end of that program, 130-thousand families on Medicaid and their children lost coverage temporarily; that was a very scary prospect, and at that time, we saw the panic that ensued with families not understanding whether or not they would be covered, community-based organizations not understanding how they could ensure that their Medicaid eligible clientele knew how to access that coverage, but fortunately due to our advocacy with Nevada Medicaid, and due to CMS and Medicaid and Medicare at the national level, those services were reinstated," explained Children's Advocacy Alliance Executive Director. Holly Wellborn
Wellborn says there are still around 5,000 Nevada who still do not have coverage from Medicaid unwinding last year.
Cannizzaro says that 13% of all Nevadans between age 0 and 60 do not have health coverage, including 55,000 children in the state.
There are currently more than 376 thousand children in Nevada enrolled under Medicaid.
"It's no secret that healthcare affordability is an issue, not just here in Nevada, but all across the country. It is definitely a topic we have been tackling in the last few sessions at the Nevada Legislature -- the truth is that people are being priced out of those essential services, and that, for me, is just not acceptable. It is a large part of why I have undertaken certain pieces of legislation," explained Cannizzaro.
*Watch the event here*
April marks the seventh annual Medicaid Awareness Month
