Neglected children are great for business

Does it matter that Nevada has more uninsured children than any other state?

According to a new research brief published by Nevada’s Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), Nevada continues to lead the nation in the percentage of uninsured children as one out of five Nevada kids is uninsured. We are also a national leader in uninsured residents, second only to Texas, which also embraces a Wild West approach to coverage.

Why should we care?

The LCB points out that uninsured adults often postpone needed medical care until the problem gets so bad it can’t be ignored. Then they access the most expensive medical care we have: the hospital emergency room.

While parents obviously want to get their uninsured children medical attention when needed, the same survival strategy of waiting and hoping the situation gets better applies. One of the most common reasons for emergency room visits among children is an ear infection, a condition that can be painful and dangerous if left untreated.

Yet without access to primary care, if one of those 134,300 uninsured Nevada children is suffering from an ear infection, she must compete for a spot at a subsidized health clinic, which may also charge a substantial co-pay, go to the emergency room and wait to be seen, or go without care.

Emergency rooms are very expensive places to provide primary health care. Uninsured patients may be hounded by bill collectors for years after the visit, but the reality is someone has to pay the bill. We all pay for those ear infections through higher insurance bills as hospitals increase the costs for insured patients to at least partially cover charges for the uninsured visits.

In fact, newer research is emerging about the use of emergency rooms as “profit-centers” for hospitals since there is little regulation on pricing and often people end up in out-of-network hospitals where virtually any price goes.

Much has been made of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s decision to become the first Republican governor to accept the federal government’s offer to pay for expanded access to Medicaid, a key component of Obamacare. Certainly it was the right decision given our incredibly high rates of uninsured residents. Despite the governor’s insistence that he was and is against all things Obamacare, he knows the expansion of Medicaid is the right approach.

Of course Nevada wouldn’t have so many people eligible for Medicaid if our corporations would provide employer-sponsored health care instead of leaving the cost of coverage for their low-wage workers to the taxpayers.

It’s worth noting that almost all the uninsured people in Nevada are under the age of 65 since that’s when the federal Medicare program kicks in. Imagine if we had gone in a different direction when reforming our health care system and taken the profit-making insurance brokers out of the mix and provided Medicare health services to everyone. All Nevadans would have access to basic health care as every senior citizen in our country does.

A single payer system would have its challenges, of course, and there are other systemic health care reforms that need to be fully implemented, such as higher utilization of qualified nurse practitioners in the primary care arena and an expanded workforce training program.

But if Medicare is such an awful government-run system, why is it so popular with anyone nearing retirement age? Because health care security means you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to come up with the cash to see a specialist or cover the surgery you need without declaring medical bankruptcy.

Ask those who loudly protest the single-payer approach as “socialized medicine” if they’re willing to give up their Medicare when they turn 65 and take their chances in the individual insurance market.

I doubt you’ll find many takers.