Groups urge Sandoval to support Medicaid expansion

CARSON CITY - Representatives from 15 health care organizations called on Gov. Brian Sandoval and state legislators Thursday to support expansion of the Medicaid program and provide health insurance for 71,000 more poor Nevadans.

In an interview, Dr. Ron Kline, president-elect of the Southern Nevada Medical Industry Coalition, said it makes no sense not to expand Medicaid. The federal government will pay almost all of the costs, and the $300 million a year the state would receive would not only help patients but serve as an economic stimulus, he said.

"It is not just that health care delivery would improve, but $300 million would come into the economy," he said. "Doctors would get paid, hospitals get paid, and we would hire more nurses. If you don't accept the money, then that money goes to another state. We in Nevada would be paying for it out of our taxes and our money would go to pay for Medicaid in other states."

Sandoval on Tuesday said he will not decide until close to when he delivers his State of the State address on Jan. 16 whether he will support expanding Medicaid - the health care program for the poor, disabled and some elderly - to cover people earning just over poverty level wages. About 313,000 people in Nevada are covered through Medicaid.

In winning approval of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, President Barack Obama sought Medicaid expansion as a way nationally to give health care to 16 million more people. But in upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that states have the option to expand the program. Some states already have rejected increasing their programs.

Among the organizations in Nevada that back Medicaid expansion are the Sunrise and Valley health systems, St. Rose Dominican hospitals, University Medical Center, the Nevada State Medical Association, the Nevada Health Care Association and the Clark County Medical Society. Also, Brian Brannman, chief executive officer of University Medical Center, and Dr. Florence Jameson of Volunteers in Medicine have expressed their support.

Kline noted that the federal government will pay 100 percent of the expansion costs for the 2014-16 period, and though that rate would drop in subsequent years, it would remain at 90 percent from 2020 onward.

States will have to pay administrative costs of the expansion, but Kline said that could be as little as $20 million a year for Nevada. Sandoval has not yet reported the additional costs Nevada would pay, but last summer he mentioned $40 million to $50 million a year to Review-Journal editors.

If Medicaid is not expanded, then people who are left out still will receive health care by going to hospital emergency rooms and visiting doctors without paying their bills, Kline added.

Even if Obamacare is fully implemented in Nevada, about 10 percent of the state population is expected to remain uninsured. Under the law, illegal residents are not permitted in the program. Now 21.3 percent, or 581,485 people in Nevada lack health care insurance.

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.