At a 300-person assembly of 'Nevadans for the Common Good,' state legislators publicly supported NCG goals to address the state's teacher shortage and to ensure that a plan to privatize some medicaid services in Nevada is transparent and includes meaningful public participation.
State legislators Senator Michael Robertson and Assemblymen Paul Anderson and John Hambrick listened as Marsha Rodriguez told her story about the fragility of independence as a senior. 72 years old, Rodriguez described waiting 6 months to get into a Nevada Medicaid waiver program, the Home and Community Based Waiver, which helps pay for non-medical services that are essential for some aging seniors to continue living at home. After seven years of receiving non-medical care, she fears that privatization of Medicaid services would reduce access to those services and push her into a nursing home. NCG leader Barbara Paulsen noted that the cost of at-home services for six or seven people is about equal with the cost of covering one person in a nursing home.
When pressed by NCG leaders on whether he would ask the State Department of Health and Human Services to fold stakeholders into planning meetings, Anderson -- the chairman of the Interim Finance Committee, said yes. He also responded that he "recognize the need for these services. How they they are provided must be to the benefit of those receiving care."
Regarding the state's teacher shortage, Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson and Senator Joyce Woodhouse committed to making the shortage crisis a top priority and working with NCG to address the issue. The organization is calling on State officials to include the teacher shortage in a special session of the legislature, as well as raising the issue with the Clark County School Board.
1,400 on Waiting List for Nevada's Independent Living Program, Las Vegas Review Journal
Potential Medicaid Privatization Affecting Elderly, Disabled Worries Advocates, Las Vegas Sun
Parents, Teachers Meet with Lawmakers to Talk Clark County Teacher Shortage, ABC News 13