Health Insurance

Sometimes it takes a while to get the big picture, to see things coming into focus. Now, I am not much for conspiracy theories, but if anything looks like it is being driven by design, this is one. The theories driving it were formulated many lifetimes ago. The people whose sick minds spawned them are long dead. For the life of me I do not understand how any egomaniac could possibly get his jollies from a trend he might have started but maybe not even his great-grandson might see coming to fruition. But there it is, a hundred year timeline on several fronts.

Destruction of money


The federal government has conditionally approved Nevada's plan to set up an information system for consumers and small businesses to compare health insurance plans as required by the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

CARSON CITY – Nevada State Medical Association President Florence Jameson said today that Gov. Brian Sandoval made a “politically courageous and correct” policy decision to expand the Nevada Medicaid program.

The decision will ensure that there will not be a new class of uninsured Nevadans when the federal health coverage changes are implemented in January 2014, said Jameson, a physician.

CARSON CITY – State Senate Republican leaders today commended GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval’s decision to expand the state Medicaid program as a commitment to the health of all Nevadans and a boost for a critical sector of the state’s economy.

“Ensuring that poor Nevadans have access to primary health care through Medicaid is very simply the right thing to do, both for our citizens and our economy,” said Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Henderson. “It will reduce our rate of uninsured and provide individuals with greater economic security.”

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval today announced he will include 78,000 additional people in Nevada’s Medicaid program as provided for under the federal Affordable Care Act.

“Though I have never liked the Affordable Care Act because of the individual mandate it places on citizens, the increased burden on businesses and concerns about access to health care, the law has been upheld by the Supreme Court,” he said in a statement. “As such, I am forced to accept it as today’s reality and I have decided to expand Nevada’s Medicaid coverage.

And so it begins...

http://nationaljournal.com/domesticpolicy/floodgates-open-on-new-health-...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/6125-proposed-regulations-and-notificati...

http://www.regulations.gov/#!home;tab=search

CARSON CITY – Candidates in two of Nevada’s hotly contested Congressional races debated the issues Thursday in separate 30-minute discussions on public television.

CARSON CITY – Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley used a second Senate debate tonight to attack Sen. Dean Heller on issues ranging from Medicare to online poker legislation, while her Republican opponent took a more restrained approach in the hour-long discussion on public television.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval said today that there are a large number of variables in play as he prepares his 2013-15 budget, including who wins the presidential election on Nov. 6.

Sandoval said a decision on whether to expand Nevada’s Medicaid program to cover newly eligible residents under the Affordable Care Act will wait for that result, since Gov. Mitt Romney has said he wants to repeal the law.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Division of Insurance (NVDOI) is seeking public input on what should be included in Nevada’s essential health benefits plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Division of Insurance is seeking public input on the selection of Nevada’s essential health benefits plan.
The essential health benefits plan for Nevada will be the benchmark set of health care services that will be required in all individual and small group health insurance plans starting in 2014.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s health exchange, which will offer residents a one-stop shop to obtain medical insurance beginning Oct. 1, 2013, has received federal approval for grant funding to move forward with its implementation.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada State Medical Association has announced it supports expanding Nevada’s Medicaid caseload as permitted under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The association’s board of directors met on Sept. 8 and adopted the policy statement, which was based on the information currently available about the expansion of the Medicaid program.

Carson City, Nevada - August 29, 2012 -   Northern Nevada families now have even more access to specialized care for pediatric diseases such as cancer and blood disorders. As of September 1, 2012 patients will have the option to access these services in Carson City through an agreement with Carson Medical Group and Cure 4 The Kids Foundation.

CARSON CITY – A board overseeing the creation of the state’s health insurance exchange opted today not to seek general fund support to subsidize the fees charged to participants in the program.

The Finance and Sustainability Advisory Subcommittee of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange Board had proposed subsidizing the monthly fee paid by enrollees with a general fund appropriation from the state Insurance Premium Tax.

A free public forum on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AHCA) will be held at the Plaza Conference Center, 211 East 9th Street, Carson City, NV on Tuesday, August 28 at 5:30 P.M.

CARSON CITY – The state Board of Examiners, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, today approved a contract worth up to $72 million through 2016 to set up the information technology system needed to implement the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.

The contract with Xerox State Healthcare will allow the state to move forward with the exchange, basically a one-stop shop for purchasing health insurance. The exchanges were authorized by the Affordable Care Act, most of which was upheld in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June.

SPARKS – U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., showed up at a Sparks floral shop today to receive the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in his reelection bid against Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

The national endorsement was made by former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who said the choice was clear for the organization.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval said today he needs a lot of questions answered before he can decide whether to expand Medicaid eligibility in Nevada, and that it could take several months to resolve all the uncertainties.

“There’s no specific time schedule,” he said. “I mean I understand right now we’ve had the Supreme Court decision. Everyone has been waiting for that. I think there are still people that are trying to interpret it.

CARSON CITY – Nevada officials are busy preparing cost and enrollment estimates so Gov. Brian Sandoval will have reliable information before deciding whether to expand Medicaid following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month upholding much of the Affordable Care Act.

CARSON CITY – A letter from 12 U.S. Senators and 61 members of the House to the nation’s governors asking them to oppose the creation of health care exchanges under the Affordable Care Act comes too late to have any effect in Nevada.

CARSON CITY – The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange is moving forward to ensure that Nevada will have a state based exchange operational by Oct. 1, 2013, following the Supreme Court ruling Thursday upholding most of the federal health care law.

To date the Exchange has been awarded approximately $24.7 million in federal grants to pay for its establishment and implementation.

CARSON CITY – U.S. Senate candidate and Rep. Shelley Berkley defended her efforts to preserve a kidney transplant program in Nevada in 2008, saying she never advocated for anything that was not in the best interests of patients and patient care.

Berkley, D-Nev., defended her role in preserving the program in response to questions in an interview on the Face To Face television program.

A reader wrote in today asking about the property tax hike the Carson City Board of Supervisors approved unanimously last week. What follows is a breakdown:

The property tax rate will go from $3.1872 to $3.66. If you do the math, that works out to a 13 percent increase. However, state law limits the amount of increase that homeowners have to pay to 3 percent per year, 6.4 percent on commercial properties. They estimate that taxes on average will increase 3 percent next year under this new rate, and account for about $3 million more than they would under the old rate.

CARSON CITY – Three of the Republicans seeking the right to challenge state Democratic Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford for Nevada’s new 4^th Congressional District seat sought to establish their conservative credentials in a televised debate today.

CARSON CITY – Assembly Speaker and 3^rd Congressional District candidate John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, declined today to say whether he supports the federal health care law now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oceguera, who is termed out of office in the Assembly, said it is premature to comment on the law given the fact that it is awaiting a decision on its constitutionality by the nation’s high court.

CARSON CITY – The head of Nevada’s Department of Health and Human Services said today that as many as 150,000 more residents will be eligible for Medicaid coverage if the federal health care law is found constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A father of 5, loving husband, and devoted Christian, is in the hospital right now after suffering multiple strokes and will be needing spinal/brain surgery. He was diagnosed with Klippel-Feil syndrome. This is a rare disorder in which the spine has abnormalities in it that are formed in the womb. His skull and first two vertebrates are fused together, and multiple more further down his spine. The abnormality is putting pressure on part of his brain. He currently has no health insurance. In an effort to help I have put together a raffle fundraiser to help towards his medical bills.

Reading over the coverage of the Supreme Court's oral arguments over the fate of ObamaCare, you might get the impression that the conservative-leaning court will strike this law down.

While those people on each side of the political divide will have their opinions about this, I, as a person whose profession is all about writing and words, am struck by how the future of this law seems hinged on the wording in the legislation.

The major argument against ObamaCare has to do with the requirement that everyone must buy health insurance, otherwise known as the individual mandate.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s top state administrators gathered together in meeting rooms and via the internet today to hear first-hand about Gov. Brian Sandoval’s initial plans for his 2013-15 budget.

The all-day meeting called “Budget Kickoff” was intended to provide instructions to state administrators on how to begin preparing their spending plans for the new two-year budget that will take effect on July 1, 2013.