Senate Finance approves remainder of benefits plan money

SB416 is the second half of the package legislators were told would be needed to make up losses suffered by the plan in the past two years. The first part was the $10 million in AB176.

Nevada Budget Director Perry Comeaux told the committee Monday that the money is needed quickly because the plan will otherwise run out of money in about two weeks.

The bail-out total of $26 million is about the same amount the benefits fund lost over the past two years.

The problems came to a head when L&H Administrators, the company hired to pay bills incurred by state employees under the health plan, collapsed. One former employee of the company has since been charged with fraud.

The new administrator, UICI, is still trying to reconstruct some claim records. But large sums were simply lost.

In addition to the state money involved, premiums both paid by the state and by retirees have risen sharply to put the plan back in the black - up 21 percent in January.

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