State health care plan questioned

State officials expect notification within days on whether the federal Health Care Financing Administration will approve the revised Nevada Check Up program.

The program will mirror Medicaid in most respects, but the state will continue to maintain it as a separate health care program.

Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association and an advisory member of the Legislative Committee on Health Care, said Monday it might be time to expand Medicaid rather than try a separate program for some children.

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, also asked why the Department of Human Resources plans to use two separate applications, one for Medicaid and one for Check Up, rather than using one.

Chris Thompson, administrator of the state Health Care Financing and Policy Division, said the plan is to use a simplified form to determine if children are eligible for Nevada Check Up.

If a child might be eligible for Medicaid, the family will be required to fill out a more detailed application or risk losing coverage, he said.

The federal agency required Nevada to ensure that children who enroll in Check Up aren't eligible for Medicaid. Check Up will be paid 65 percent with federal money and 35 percent by the state.

Medicaid, a health care entitlement program for the poor, is paid 50-50 by the state and federal governments.

Check Up is intended to provide health care to children of families who have incomes too high for Medicaid but no medical coverage through an employer.

Charlotte Crawford, director of the Department of Human Resources, said the new Check Up program will be up and running at least by Dec. 1. The families of about 5,000 children had applied for the program before delays were encountered.

In other action, the committee was told by a top University Medical Center official that he'll try again in 1999 to create a Clark County-run comprehensive health care delivery system that could bring in millions each year in federal funds.

The $14.6 million that Clark County could get from the federal government in matching funds for a medically needy Medicaid program would offset that much in local taxes now being paid by county residents to provide the same medical coverage, said William Hale.

Nevada is one of the few states that doesn't include a medically needy program in its Medicaid budget, the UMC chief executive officer added.

The proposal is to create a county-run program to oversee a host of health care programs, including Medicaid, Nevada Check Up, county social service patients and the uninsured.

Such an umbrella organization would end the fragmentation of health care services, Hale said.

County tax contributions to the health care coverage of the uninsured would be used to obtain the Medicaid matching funds for the medically needy program, he said.

Other Nevada counties could set up the same type of program or rely on the state to administer the various health care programs as is done now, he said.

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