Your Wednesday editorial headlined “Stick up for consumers” was spot on. Nevada does little to protect people who don’t buy health coverage through work and instead buy it directly from insurers.
But your editorial didn’t mention Nevada’s most recent failure to protect consumers from health insurers by allowing UnitedHealth’s takeover of Sierra Health Services.
Because regulators failed to do their jobs, UnitedHealth now dominates our market. Without adequate government regulation and without private competition, UnitedHealth has the power to do what it likes — deny coverage, deny care and deny payments to hospitals and doctors. There is reason to be fearful because UnitedHealth has been accused of significant wrongdoing elsewhere.
For more than a year, I fought that merger with help from my fellow Service Employees International Union nurses, Nevada’s doctors and Clark County. I admire Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie’s determination to “press for changes that will benefit consumers in the 2009 session.”
Let’s hope that in the 2009 legislative session, she and her fellow legislators will work with us and other health consumer advocates to finally stand up to the insurance companies and ensure that all Nevadans have access to the care they need.
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