Officials not sure federal stimulus bill would help indigent care fund

CARSON CITY — State officials said today they are not sure yet whether they can restore a $55 million indigent accident care fund for counties or fully fund a health insurance program for children with Nevada's expected $1.34 billion share of federal economic stimulus funds.

Health and Human Services Director Mike Willden said he does not know whether the $800 billion plus stimulus bill being crafted by Congress would allow Nevada to restore the fund to pay hospital costs of indigent people hurt in accidents.

"It would be at the top of the list to reverse, I would think?" asked Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, during a joint Senate-Assembly budget hearing.

During the December special legislative session, legislators and Gov. Jim Gibbons took the money from the county indigent accident fund and used it as one of the ways to balance the state budget.

It had been anticipated that funds to restore the accident fund would be contained in the two-year budget Gibbons released in January, but they were not. Rural legislators, in particular, are concerned that without the money hospitals in their communities could go further into the red.

Buckley also questioned whether the federal stimulus package, approved last week in the House, would allow Nevada to cover all applicants for Nevada Check Up, a free health insurance program for children of the poor.

But Charles Duarte, the administrator of the Nevada Health Care Financing and Policy Division, said the stimulus package did not consider that program.

The Gibbons administration has capped enrollment in Nevada Check Up at 25,000. There are now 24,000 children in the program and 5,000 others whose applications are pending. As many as 65,000 children are eligible for the program, according to Duarte's previous estimates.

"If there were funds available, we would like to see it (Nevada Check Up) restored," Duarte said.

Willden, however, said there may be a way "to slide some money over to Check Up" under the proposed stimulus package.

He said there might be a "near doubling" of the state Medicaid program under the economic stimulus package. The proposal includes funds to provide free health care to unemployed people. Nevada now has 122,000 unemployed.

But Willden warned legislators that there are "a lot of strings" attached to the stimulus package and funds could not be used to plug holes in Nevada's state budget.

Willden said he did not know when Congress will approve the stimulus bill, but it could be as soon as President's Day, Feb. 16.

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