Nevada Opts Out Of Health Care High Risk Insurance Pool
Governor Jim Gibbons today sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius opting out of state operation of a high risk insurance pool as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, otherwise known as the health care ‘reform’ bill.
Under the bill, the State of Nevada would have been provided with $61 million from the federal government to operate the pool.
Estimates prepared by Nevada’s Health Care Reform Implementation Team, chaired by Nevada Department of Health & Human Services Director Mike Willden, project that $61 million will only allow approximately 2,900 high risk individuals to be served.
Nevada’s uninsured population is more than 500,000. It is estimated there may be as many as 100,000 individuals eligible for the temporary high risk pool.
“Initial planning to implement health care reform has already cost Nevadans over $55,000 in staff time, diverting our work away from our core mission of serving Nevadans during this recession,” Gibbons said. “Ongoing planning costs of nearly $22,000 per week are expected with costs only increasing in the future. That’s before we even get to the $574 million in additional Medicaid costs. Harry Reid’s idea of reform might be breaking the backs and bank accounts of hard working Nevadans, but it is not mine. I will continue to fight against this unconstitutional and costly law.”
Read the Governor’s Letter to Secretary Sebelius below:
Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and 1-luman Services
200 Independence Avenue SW Room 603-H
Washington, D.C. 20201
Transmitted to highriskpools~cmshhs.gov by request
Dear Secretary Sebelius:
Your April 2, 2010 letter to governors regarding the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, and the implementation of a temporary high risk health insurance
pool program has been recei~ ed and reviewed.
In order to properly e~aluatc 3 our request for Nevada to choose an option to
implement the high risk pool, I assigned the task to a recently formed working group -
comprised of representatives from thc Ne~ -ida Department of I-Iealth and Human
Services, the Ne~ada Division of Insurance, the Office of the Nevada Attorney General,
Public Employees Benefits System and the State Risk Manager – whose task is to
evaluate all provisions of the enacted Health Care Reform Legislation. I also consulted
with affected stakeholders in the industry. The recommendation from these groups is
that Nevada defer the implementation and oversight of such a pool to the federal
government (Department of Health and Human Services), and in the interest of all
Nevadans, I strongly concur with that recommendation.
Nevada does not currently operate an insurance high risk pool and we believe
the funding provided for this component is grossly inadequate. We estimate Nevada’s
share (DHHS estimate of $61 million) of the $5 billion national pooi will only allow
approximately 2900 individuals to be served. Nevada’s uninsured population is over
500,000; and, we estimate there may be 100,000 individuals eligible for the temporary
high risk pool. We do not believe financial or human resources are available to manage
the pool. There will be a significant problem managing the fe~ who become eligible,
but even a larger problem managing the frustration of people not eligible for the pool.
Please keep my office informed of the progress you make in implementing the
high risk pool in Nevada.
Sincerely,
JIM GIBBONS
cc: Mike Wiliden, Director, DI-IHS
Dianne Cornwall, Director, Business and Industry
Scott Kipper, Insurance Commissioner
Charles Duarte, Administrator, Medicaid
Glenn Shippey, Insurance Commissioner’s Office
Cliff King, Insurance Commissioners Office
Topics: 2010, AARP, Affordable Care Act, affordable health care, Americans, business, Congress, consumer protections, costs, employer based coverage, expensive premiums, Governance, government, Governor Jim Gibbons, Health and Human Services, health care, health care costs, health care reform bill, health care workforce, health insurance, health insurance coverage, Health Insurance Reform, health insurance reform law, health security, high risk pool, individual market, Insurance Industry, Medicaid Services, Medicare, monitor, Nevada, news, Obama Administration, President Obama, Republicans, U.S., underinsured, uninsured, United States, White House
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