Nevada Watch

Two bills introduced in a Senate health committee meeting Wednesday in the Legislature would protect health care benefits in Nevada.

Pharmacy benefit managers — businesses that act as middlemen between drug manufacturers and pharmacies — wouldn’t be able to bar pharmacists from telling consumers about lower-cost drugs if a new bill passes.

State Sen. Pat Spearman, D-North Las Vegas, introduced a bill Wednesday that would require all insurers in Nevada to cover hearing aids for children and give vouchers to low-income parents to purchase diapers.

Nevada legislators heard introductions for three bills in the Assembly and Senate health committees Monday, including one that would appropriate $15 million to general public health needs.

Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle, D-Sparks, plans to introduce a bill this legislative session that would create a Medicaid buy-in option for all Nevadans, after a similar proposal passed in the state Assembly and Senate but fell at the hands of former Gov. Brian Sandoval in 2017.

If you need an “ICD PRTCTA DR US MR BCP” procedure at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, the charge will be $100,000. If, instead, you’re destined for a “Card perf spect mlt with and without wm/ef” at Valley Hospital Medical Center, it will run $15,917.

Nevada’s behavioral health policy leaders are looking to improve crisis intervention and gather data in the 2019 legislative session.

Enrollment on the state’s health insurance exchange dropped by about 200 people from the preliminary December totals after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released final numbers Thursday for the 2019 open enrollment period.

There are five days left to sign up for a plan on Nevada’s Affordable Care Act exchange, but so far, the health insurance option isn’t as popular among consumers as it was last year.

Obamacare sign-ups through Healthcare.gov are down nationally and in Nevada as the final days of open enrollment approach.