Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Lombardo should let public option work, help save lives
As a physician, I was disturbed to hear Gov. Joe Lombardo threaten to pull the plug on Nevada’s public health care option in his recent State of the State address. After doctors across Nevada advocated for its passage in 2021, we are left to wonder why Lombardo would turn his backs on us and our patients — and urge him to reconsider his dangerous stance.
For doctors, nurses and medical professionals across our state, the Nevada Public Option is a welcomed way to bring down the astronomical health care costs so many of our patients face. It means families without health care have a pathway to see a doctor when they want to. Rural Nevadans who’ve been squeezed by high insurance costs because they had only one plan choice can finally get a high-quality and affordable plan.
Those of us who work in health care have watched in growing frustration as unaffordable health care — skyrocketing premiums, drug costs and out-of-pocket expenses — forces our patients to delay and even avoid treatment and therapy. We know how access to affordable health care, or lack thereof, can change lives.
We’ve seen too many people brush off chest pain because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor or go to the hospital, only to find out they were having a heart attack. Or cancer patients filing for bankruptcy because the treatment they need to avoid death costs as much as a house. Or people with manageable mental illnesses not getting the care they need because they can’t afford a therapist and medications that can improve and even save their lives. We’ve cared for patients whose appendix ruptured, leading to sepsis and long, painful recovery. We’ve cared for patients debilitated by chronic pain, unable to work and care for themselves.
The numbers are sobering. Around 65% of Nevadans say they can’t afford health care. More than half of all Nevadans say they put off care because of cost.
Health care is in serious crisis. Nevada’s public option is a commonsense, reasonable and responsible solution. That’s why doctors celebrated its passage.
So when Lombardo says he wants to repeal the public option, Nevadans should worry that the new governor could effectively threaten a lifeline for tens of thousands of people.
As physicians, we are hopeful Lombardo will change his mind and allow the public option to work. Just as importantly, we encourage him to recognize the root of Nevada’s health care problem. For too long, Nevadans had too few options, and those they had were too expensive, especially for low-income and rural families. Before the public option, Nevadans who live outside Clark and Washoe counties often had only one plan on the health exchange or none at all. And rural Nevadans pay an average of $274 more than people in Clark County.
Yet in his State of the State, Lombardo offered no other solutions to these life-threatening issues.
Without the Nevada Public Option and similar solutions, the Nevadans disproportionately harmed by this inequity will be cashiers, retail workers, transportation employees, janitors, ranchers and many others who work to keep our state functioning every day, yet still cannot afford the care they need. These are the patients we see in our exam rooms, clinics and hospitals who have worse health outcomes because they couldn’t afford to manage their diseases. Too many families won’t spend money on a doctor and medicine when they need to scrape every penny together to pay the rent and avoid losing their homes. And as physicians, we understand that a chronic medical condition and poor health are seldom the result of a single cataclysmic event, but a series of accidents and bad breaks that all add up.
We urge Lombardo not to give up on our fellow Nevadans who need health care. By letting the Nevada Public Option work, he can help improve and save many lives.