Nevada Check-Up under way

CARSON CITY -- The state program to insure children of low-income families kicks off today with 1,400 youngsters qualified to receive medical treatment.

As part of the "Nevada Check-Up" program, low-income families will pay anywhere from $10 to $50 per quarter, depending on their income, regardless of the number of children covered.

Chris Thompson, administrator of the state Division of Health Care Financing and Policy which oversees the program, said Wednesday he expected 5,000 children to be covered by the end of the year. The youngsters receive coverage from health maintenance organizations in Clark and Washoe counties and from the regular medical personnel and facilities in rural Nevada.

Benefits include physician care, hospitalization, prescription drugs, vision, hearing, x-rays, dental as well as other medically necessary services.

The program has been criticized by some for small numbers that have signed up. But Thompson said the same program in California, in its first month, had only 5,000 children enrolled. He said an additional 2,200 children have been approved and their parents have been sent forms to enroll.

It was initially estimated there might be 40,000 to 45,000 children eligible in Nevada, but that projection has been trimmed to 20,000 to 25,000 children.

Of the 5,588 applications received by Sept. 15, 28 percent were denied. Thompson said 34 percent of those who were denied failed to provide adequate financial information showing they qualified for the program; 21 percent had private health insurance coverage in the past six months; 15 percent had excess income; and another 15 percent were on Medicaid.

Thompson said the agency must watch closely to see that parents are not canceling their private insurance policies just to get on the low-cost program, financed jointly by the state and federal government.

About 60 percent of those who qualified come from Clark County, with 20 percent from Washoe and 20 percent from rural Nevada, Thompson said.

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