Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Congressman tells health care companies not to be like the DMV

Congressman Jon Porter shared his views on health care with a group of local medical professionals during the inaugural Nevada Healthcare Forum Oct. 14 at the Sierra Health Services headquarters in northwest Las Vegas.

After telling of a recent eight-hour experience he had at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Virginia to renew a required sticker needed to park in Washington, D.C., he summed up his thoughts of health care.

"I'm scared to death that health care will be run like the DMV," he said. "I don't want to see all the bureaucratic dilemmas ruining health care."

Porter said he doesn't want to see patients not seeing doctors because more insurance forms are needed or a patient not seeing a doctor because previous X-rays were not sent over on time.

Porter encouraged the health care professionals to contact him and other elected officials to help come up with solutions about health care so that the federal government doesn't run the process.

"You (speaking to medical professionals) need to figure out a way to make health care work or the federal government will take over," he said during the forum. "You and me need to start a smoother system so it doesn't take days, months or years to see a doctor."

Porter said the complaints he hears most often about health care are that it is not available or difficult to access. Porter said he has worked to make health care more available by helping to create a nursing program at Nevada State College to help alleviate the state's nursing shortage. He said he is also pushing to make health information more technologically advanced.

"Paper kills," he said. "Prescriptions written on paper can be difficult to read and people die because of it, and close to 90,000 people a year in the country are hurt because of paper."

Porter said all health information needs to be created electronically.

Porter said he is also proud of the work he has done to help those serving in the military in Nevada to receive needed additional health care.

Finally, Porter spoke about his support of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The program and provides $24 billion in federal matching funds over 10 years to help states expand health care coverage to more than 5 million of the nation's uninsured children.

"I supported the bill because I wanted to make sure every child has access to health care," he said.

Democratic state Sen. Dina Titus, who is challenging Porter for his congressional seat, has a bill in the state Senate that would ensure 25,000 uninsured children in Nevada, an issue she wants to keep pushing, said Andrew Stoddard, spokesman for Titus. Stoddard also said that although Porter eventually supported SCHIP, he voted against it numerous times.

Jenny Davis can be reached at 990-8921 or [email protected].

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