As we hear the ‘dialog’ about government-controlled health care for all, please note that the Nevada legislature declined this session to offer Nevadans a chance to purchase a basic package of health care that would have been more affordable than the packages currently available. AB 439 was snuffed at the first deadline for bills to be voted out of committee, having received scant attention.
The bill would have authorized insurance companies to offer an alternative to the bloated health care packages currently available. The plan would have covered the basics: medical, surgical and hospital care, prescription drugs and emergency transportation.
There are potentially thousands of Nevadans who might have welcomed the chance to be insured without paying for the dozens of ‘mandates’ the state places on health coverage. Young single men striking out in their first jobs, for instance, do not really need to pay extra for maternity coverage.
Instead, the legislature killed AB 439 and pushed forward to add even more expensive mandates, the costs of which will be passed along to the already overburdened health care consumer. The lawmakers are apparently unembarrassed by the certain result they’re creating — a large number of Nevadans will continue to go without basic health insurance because they can’t afford or don’t want gold-plated insurance.
