Solis at the Nevada Current wrote a story about MedicAid work requirements and how it will affect 280,000 Nevadans but it does not tell the whole story of how unsustainable Nevada’s healthcare insurance/govt paid system is in the long run and how someone will have to address it.
There are 3,200,000 people in Nevada now. The vast majority of this state has govt paid health coverage.
Medicare: 625,000 people (includes 60,000 under 65 on disability)
Medicaid: 740,000 people
Gov’t Workers: 185,000 positions = 500-600,000 people (family coverage) this includes fed/state and the 120,000 muni jobs.
This is nearly 2/3 of the NV population receiving healthcare directly from govt paymts. The private sector in this state is only covering 1/3 of the people. The same can be said for taxes too. This is not a healthy mix for the state.
We need to expand the Federal Govt jobs here (only around 20k of the total) so we rely less on property and state taxes (gas/gambling/business) etc. to recycle into payroll for the state/muni/county workers
Medicare, fed employees and half of Medicaid are covered by the fed government. There is no way that the average state or muni employee has 2+ dependents on his or her insurance. Many are unmarried and many of the married ones don’t have kids. And many of their spouses/kids will be covered by their spouses insurance. Last I checked PEBP doesn’t cover a spouse if the spouse has insurance provided by his or her employer.
Lol. Not even remotely close. Maybe it felt like that in certain areas 25 years ago at the height of the Boomer Mormons with kids age, but it’s never been true, and isn’t true today.
This is wild. Even at the charter schools in Hendo and Boulder City where Mormons have congregated it’s only like 8-12%. Mormons abandoned CCSD long ago. Mormons aren’t having 6-10 kids anymore.
10+million illegals, none of whom can be turned away at the hospital ER. Every child born to them here is eligible for Medicaid until the parents have good steady income.
You are leaving out crucial facts. 1) Almost all Medicare recipients have supplemental insurance that covers the 20 per cent or 2) they are on Medicare Advantage which is private health insurance coverage and is not Medicare but managed care 3) VA benefits you left that out–what percentage are veterans with VA and 4) Culinary/Casino insurance is totally private and is more than 30 per cent of all workers. There are plenty of private employers with private insurance. Lastly, what percentages and numbers are the “Obama Care” plans? Medicaid was expanded tremendously under Obama Care. I know many who are on it and won’t work past certain hours and income thresholds just to stay on state insurance. Eliminating the mandate for health insurance was a mistake. We need to force people to buy health insurance much like car insurance if you drive a car.
funded Medicaid.
Or we do what every other country with means does: provide a base level healthcare plan for everyone. Remove the insurance companies and profit motives from the equation. Divorce healthcare from employer based payments. Let the wealthy hire private docs or buy supplemental insurance if that’s what they want to do. It works well everywhere else. We do not have the best healthcare system in the world, rhetoric of politicians and insurance companies be damned.
And short of that, penalize companies like Walmart and Amazon that cut hours so they don’t have to provide healthcare and other benefits to employees who are working nearly fulltime. Paying a living wage. And provide toilets to farm workers so we can eat lettuce again.
The government contractors are all private. You don’t do away with them. A complete government funded one size fits all won’t work. We flooded the country with many more residents but did not expand our health care system. Medicare for all means medicare for none. There are not enough doctors, nurses and health care professionals to handle the population. Eventually health care professionals will revolt and leave the system. This has already spawned cash for pay. If you want to see what a government health care system looks like take a look at government funded and run Indian (Native American) health care on reservations. You wait days to see a doctor. Hard to get tests and procedures done. Consumers won’t be able to choose their doctor or get the care they need when they need it. There will be rationing pitting the young v. the old. It will be so hard and awful. No thank you. Medicare for all means there won’t be Medicare when we hit 65 and it is our turn.
I wait weeks, sometimes months, not days, to see a doctor now. It’s hard to get tests and procedures done. And unless I want to pay a lot extra, I can only choose doctors who are “in network.”
Honestly I’ve lived in both countries with nationalized healthcare and the United States and the whole “in network” thing is the true benefit of nationalized medicine. My insurance was good anywhere. I didn’t have to wait, I could just call around til I found someone with an opening that day. Now I am forced to go to whatever crappy doctors are willing to accept my carrier’s lowball rate. Ironically the nationalized medicine made things more capitalist because the good doctors thrived. If anyone can go to the best doctors then they all want to go to the best doctors.
Waiting to see a doc is because of our expanding population and a shortage of doctors. Or you have lousy health insurance and a small network. I had Humana and Sierra and wound up dropping them because many docs don’t accept it and dropped off their plan. Socialized medicine won’t solve that and only make it worse. Plus you will be restricted to “government guidelines or mandates” of no test for this and that. “Single payor” means socialized medicine. You get as much health care as you can afford. Nothing more-nothing less. There is no free lunch. Health care for all and free means rationed care for all. I just can’t believe how naive everyone is and believing this Bernie Sanders none sense. You will
wait and wait while he gets concierge care paid for by the federal government. Health care in England is awful. Terrible in France. Lousy in Canada. If you can afford it and have good insurance we have the best care. The US has a lot of medical tourism. In Vegas, the Culinary Union Health Insurance is the best. All private. The Culinary Union opposes socialized medicine. There will be one less reason to join a union if they lose health care and health insurance.
The part about this debate that always gets me is the idea that healthcare in single payor countries is great. I agree that the healthcare system in the US is broken, the incentives are screwy and don’t drive better care. But I don’t think Canada is better:
-In 2024, physicians across Canada reported a median wait time of 30.0 weeks between a referral from a GP and receipt of treatment. Up from 27.7 in 2023.
This is 222% longer than the 9.3 week wait Canadian patients could expect in 1993.
-Ontario reported the shortest total wait (23.6 weeks), followed by Quebec (28.9 weeks) and British Columbia (29.5 weeks).
-Patients waited longest in Prince Edward Island (77.4 weeks), New Brunswick (69.4 weeks) and Newfoundland and Labrador (43.2 weeks).
-Patients waited the longest for Orthopaedic Surgery (57.5 weeks) and Neurosurgery (46.2 weeks).
-By contrast, patients faced shorter waits for Radiation Oncology (4.5 weeks) and Medical Oncology (4.7 weeks).
-The national 30 week total wait is comprised of two segments. Referral by a GP to consultation with a specialist: 15.0 weeks. Consultation with a specialist to receipt of treatment: 15.0 weeks.
-After seeing a specialist, Canadian patients waited 6.3 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable (8.6 weeks).
-Across 10 provinces, the study estimated that patients in Canada were waiting for 1.5 million procedures in 2024.
Patients also suffered considerable delays for diagnostic technology: 8.1 weeks for CT scans, 16.2 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.2 weeks for Ultrasound.
Guest
Anonymous
July 24, 2026 9:52 am
Joe Lombardo is really fucking up the PR on this “I’m Joe Lombardo” thing. What a moron.
Option 1: Lean into it, Ron Burgundy style. “I’m Joe Lombardo?”
Option 2: Denial. “I’m NOT Joe Lombardo.”
Option 3: Trumpian Reversal. “No Lombardo, no Lombardo. You’re the Lombardo.”
Option 4: The Lil’ Wayne. “Lom-bardo lombardo-bardo Lombardo lombardo-bardo”
Option 5: The Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“Now you didn’t let me finish, and I’m not tryin’ to diminish,
I was runnin’ from the British now you got me feelin’ skittish,
Tell you what I’m Joe Lombardo, make this official little car go
‘Cross Nevada where I govern, sun blazin’ hotter than an overn
Must’a missed the sign to stop and now I’m talking to a cop
And if you give me a warnin’ I’ll be on my way by mornin’
You’ll be famous sorry Vegas this traffic stop was not outrageous.”
Who leaked the “much ado about nothing video” on Lombardo? How is it that we are even getting to see something so insignificant. I have gotten out of tickets and even had one recalled by Highway Patrol. I am not the Governor or former Sheriff. This was obviously a Dem trying to help the Ford campaign.
Guest
Anonymous
July 24, 2026 10:53 am
I don’t think we’re putting enough resources towards LVMPD’s investigation of Lombardo’s vandalized sign. We need the CSI, Forensics, and Homeland Security sections out there solving what is clearly the crime of the century. Maybe the FBI should get involved, too (assuming Kash Patel isn’t too busy flying to watch his girlfriend sing at a state fair or something). Whatever it takes to bring these terrorists to justice.
they do not even respond to car accidents when a simple fender bender causes over $10k in damage to each car. But a funny mustache? C’mon Man.
Guest
Anonymous
July 24, 2026 1:53 pm
Heard a rumor that Judge Nancy Bernstein dropped bail requirements on a defendant who shares a name with a wanted felon in New Mexico, but put him on house arrest instead. When defense atty suggested even house arrest is too much for a case of mistaken identity she responded her orders aren’t to be questioned and changed it to remand. This was yesterday. Anybody see it or able to confirm?
So she is keeping an innocent person in detention because she was power tripping? Too bad she has absolute immunity. That person would win 10 times out of 10. Must not be that cut and dry though they straight up give bail to violent offenders these days.
Guest
Anonymous
July 24, 2026 2:24 pm
Chat, are we all too mature to make a joke about finding beavers in Vegas? We have come so far.
Solis at the Nevada Current wrote a story about MedicAid work requirements and how it will affect 280,000 Nevadans but it does not tell the whole story of how unsustainable Nevada’s healthcare insurance/govt paid system is in the long run and how someone will have to address it.
There are 3,200,000 people in Nevada now. The vast majority of this state has govt paid health coverage.
Medicare: 625,000 people (includes 60,000 under 65 on disability)
Medicaid: 740,000 people
Gov’t Workers: 185,000 positions = 500-600,000 people (family coverage) this includes fed/state and the 120,000 muni jobs.
This is nearly 2/3 of the NV population receiving healthcare directly from govt paymts. The private sector in this state is only covering 1/3 of the people. The same can be said for taxes too. This is not a healthy mix for the state.
We need to expand the Federal Govt jobs here (only around 20k of the total) so we rely less on property and state taxes (gas/gambling/business) etc. to recycle into payroll for the state/muni/county workers
Medicare, fed employees and half of Medicaid are covered by the fed government. There is no way that the average state or muni employee has 2+ dependents on his or her insurance. Many are unmarried and many of the married ones don’t have kids. And many of their spouses/kids will be covered by their spouses insurance. Last I checked PEBP doesn’t cover a spouse if the spouse has insurance provided by his or her employer.
25% of the kids in CCSD are mormon. “there is no way the average muni worker has a wife and ONE kid”? I think it is pretty accurate.
Lol. Not even remotely close. Maybe it felt like that in certain areas 25 years ago at the height of the Boomer Mormons with kids age, but it’s never been true, and isn’t true today.
This is wild. Even at the charter schools in Hendo and Boulder City where Mormons have congregated it’s only like 8-12%. Mormons abandoned CCSD long ago. Mormons aren’t having 6-10 kids anymore.
Make Mormons Prolifically Procreate Again
Back in my day Bruce R. was condemning birth control harder than the catholics.
Would Bruce “Hard” R. be wrong about something, though?
10+million illegals, none of whom can be turned away at the hospital ER. Every child born to them here is eligible for Medicaid until the parents have good steady income.
FOAD
You are leaving out crucial facts. 1) Almost all Medicare recipients have supplemental insurance that covers the 20 per cent or 2) they are on Medicare Advantage which is private health insurance coverage and is not Medicare but managed care 3) VA benefits you left that out–what percentage are veterans with VA and 4) Culinary/Casino insurance is totally private and is more than 30 per cent of all workers. There are plenty of private employers with private insurance. Lastly, what percentages and numbers are the “Obama Care” plans? Medicaid was expanded tremendously under Obama Care. I know many who are on it and won’t work past certain hours and income thresholds just to stay on state insurance. Eliminating the mandate for health insurance was a mistake. We need to force people to buy health insurance much like car insurance if you drive a car.
funded Medicaid.
Or we do what every other country with means does: provide a base level healthcare plan for everyone. Remove the insurance companies and profit motives from the equation. Divorce healthcare from employer based payments. Let the wealthy hire private docs or buy supplemental insurance if that’s what they want to do. It works well everywhere else. We do not have the best healthcare system in the world, rhetoric of politicians and insurance companies be damned.
And short of that, penalize companies like Walmart and Amazon that cut hours so they don’t have to provide healthcare and other benefits to employees who are working nearly fulltime. Paying a living wage. And provide toilets to farm workers so we can eat lettuce again.
The government contractors are all private. You don’t do away with them. A complete government funded one size fits all won’t work. We flooded the country with many more residents but did not expand our health care system. Medicare for all means medicare for none. There are not enough doctors, nurses and health care professionals to handle the population. Eventually health care professionals will revolt and leave the system. This has already spawned cash for pay. If you want to see what a government health care system looks like take a look at government funded and run Indian (Native American) health care on reservations. You wait days to see a doctor. Hard to get tests and procedures done. Consumers won’t be able to choose their doctor or get the care they need when they need it. There will be rationing pitting the young v. the old. It will be so hard and awful. No thank you. Medicare for all means there won’t be Medicare when we hit 65 and it is our turn.
I wait weeks, sometimes months, not days, to see a doctor now. It’s hard to get tests and procedures done. And unless I want to pay a lot extra, I can only choose doctors who are “in network.”
If I called my general doctor right now for a new appointment I have zero doubt it’d be in December unless they had a cancellation sooner.
Honestly I’ve lived in both countries with nationalized healthcare and the United States and the whole “in network” thing is the true benefit of nationalized medicine. My insurance was good anywhere. I didn’t have to wait, I could just call around til I found someone with an opening that day. Now I am forced to go to whatever crappy doctors are willing to accept my carrier’s lowball rate. Ironically the nationalized medicine made things more capitalist because the good doctors thrived. If anyone can go to the best doctors then they all want to go to the best doctors.
Waiting to see a doc is because of our expanding population and a shortage of doctors. Or you have lousy health insurance and a small network. I had Humana and Sierra and wound up dropping them because many docs don’t accept it and dropped off their plan. Socialized medicine won’t solve that and only make it worse. Plus you will be restricted to “government guidelines or mandates” of no test for this and that. “Single payor” means socialized medicine. You get as much health care as you can afford. Nothing more-nothing less. There is no free lunch. Health care for all and free means rationed care for all. I just can’t believe how naive everyone is and believing this Bernie Sanders none sense. You will
wait and wait while he gets concierge care paid for by the federal government. Health care in England is awful. Terrible in France. Lousy in Canada. If you can afford it and have good insurance we have the best care. The US has a lot of medical tourism. In Vegas, the Culinary Union Health Insurance is the best. All private. The Culinary Union opposes socialized medicine. There will be one less reason to join a union if they lose health care and health insurance.
fn: also long waits and limited services in Germany
The part about this debate that always gets me is the idea that healthcare in single payor countries is great. I agree that the healthcare system in the US is broken, the incentives are screwy and don’t drive better care. But I don’t think Canada is better:
-In 2024, physicians across Canada reported a median wait time of 30.0 weeks between a referral from a GP and receipt of treatment. Up from 27.7 in 2023.
This is 222% longer than the 9.3 week wait Canadian patients could expect in 1993.
-Ontario reported the shortest total wait (23.6 weeks), followed by Quebec (28.9 weeks) and British Columbia (29.5 weeks).
-Patients waited longest in Prince Edward Island (77.4 weeks), New Brunswick (69.4 weeks) and Newfoundland and Labrador (43.2 weeks).
-Patients waited the longest for Orthopaedic Surgery (57.5 weeks) and Neurosurgery (46.2 weeks).
-By contrast, patients faced shorter waits for Radiation Oncology (4.5 weeks) and Medical Oncology (4.7 weeks).
-The national 30 week total wait is comprised of two segments. Referral by a GP to consultation with a specialist: 15.0 weeks. Consultation with a specialist to receipt of treatment: 15.0 weeks.
-After seeing a specialist, Canadian patients waited 6.3 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable (8.6 weeks).
-Across 10 provinces, the study estimated that patients in Canada were waiting for 1.5 million procedures in 2024.
Patients also suffered considerable delays for diagnostic technology: 8.1 weeks for CT scans, 16.2 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.2 weeks for Ultrasound.
Joe Lombardo is really fucking up the PR on this “I’m Joe Lombardo” thing. What a moron.
Option 1: Lean into it, Ron Burgundy style. “I’m Joe Lombardo?”
Option 2: Denial. “I’m NOT Joe Lombardo.”
Option 3: Trumpian Reversal. “No Lombardo, no Lombardo. You’re the Lombardo.”
Option 4: The Lil’ Wayne. “Lom-bardo lombardo-bardo Lombardo lombardo-bardo”
Option 5: The Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“Now you didn’t let me finish, and I’m not tryin’ to diminish,
I was runnin’ from the British now you got me feelin’ skittish,
Tell you what I’m Joe Lombardo, make this official little car go
‘Cross Nevada where I govern, sun blazin’ hotter than an overn
Must’a missed the sign to stop and now I’m talking to a cop
And if you give me a warnin’ I’ll be on my way by mornin’
You’ll be famous sorry Vegas this traffic stop was not outrageous.”
Any of those would probably be fine.
Some attorney here has clearly missed their calling.
Who leaked the “much ado about nothing video” on Lombardo? How is it that we are even getting to see something so insignificant. I have gotten out of tickets and even had one recalled by Highway Patrol. I am not the Governor or former Sheriff. This was obviously a Dem trying to help the Ford campaign.
I don’t think we’re putting enough resources towards LVMPD’s investigation of Lombardo’s vandalized sign. We need the CSI, Forensics, and Homeland Security sections out there solving what is clearly the crime of the century. Maybe the FBI should get involved, too (assuming Kash Patel isn’t too busy flying to watch his girlfriend sing at a state fair or something). Whatever it takes to bring these terrorists to justice.
Metro won’t timely respond (if they respond at all) to home invasion burglaries, but this they’re sparing no expense. Wild.
Kash Patel can walk over from his home office and lead the investigation himself.
You mean stumble over…
Look, I know he does a lot of work there, but the Poodle Club is not Kash’s home office. It’s more of a satellite office.
they do not even respond to car accidents when a simple fender bender causes over $10k in damage to each car. But a funny mustache? C’mon Man.
Heard a rumor that Judge Nancy Bernstein dropped bail requirements on a defendant who shares a name with a wanted felon in New Mexico, but put him on house arrest instead. When defense atty suggested even house arrest is too much for a case of mistaken identity she responded her orders aren’t to be questioned and changed it to remand. This was yesterday. Anybody see it or able to confirm?
So she is keeping an innocent person in detention because she was power tripping? Too bad she has absolute immunity. That person would win 10 times out of 10. Must not be that cut and dry though they straight up give bail to violent offenders these days.
Chat, are we all too mature to make a joke about finding beavers in Vegas? We have come so far.
I thought the Secret Gardens at Wetlands Park was a strip club?
Where is the vajaja poster when needed? The blog needs a big batman like spotlight for when he is needed. A big “V” in the sky.
Good luck bar exam takers!
Wow, a whooping 100 questions. Wonder if they’ll continue publishing pass rates?