Stick up for consumers

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

A national health care consumer group rated all the states on their laws regarding health insurance, and included Nevada among those near the bottom of its list.

The report, “Failing Grades,” was released by Families USA. The nonprofit, nonpartisan group interviewed the insurance commissioners of all 50 states. It also reviewed the states’ insurance laws.

Ron Pollack, Families USA executive director, said the report illustrates that, nationally, the individual health insurance market is rife “with many abuses and with far too few state-level consumer protections.”

Key findings show that Nevada is among 45 states that allow insurance companies to choose participants from the healthiest consumers, leaving others with few or no options for coverage. It is one of 44 states in which insurers are allowed to revoke coverage without advance review by the state.

Nevada also doesn’t require that affordable coverage alternatives exist for people who have difficulty obtaining coverage, and the state has no limit on how high insurers can set premiums based on a person’s health status.

The result is an environment that favors health insurance companies’ interests over those of health insurance consumers.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, told the Associated Press that the report’s troubling conclusions illustrate that Nevada’s health policies leave residents stranded with few options for obtaining adequate coverage. She vowed to press for changes “that will benefit consumers” in the 2009 session.

We certainly hope the Nevada Legislature tackles these issues the next time around, as state lawmakers and Gov. Jim Gibbons were abysmal failures in 2007. That legislative session ended without any meaningful changes to help ensure health insurance coverage for Nevadans — at least 450,000 of whom remain without coverage, including about 100,000 children. Policies that place the interests of the insurance industry over the needs of sick children are shameful.