Can Veterans in Nevada Rely on Private Medical Care?

A few weeks ago, members of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2152 gathered hundreds for a protest to defend the VA's strong footprint in Nevada, including eighteen out-patient facilities in Nevada, three community-based counseling centers, one nursing home, and a residential treatment program for substance abusers. They further warned about the perilless terrain of private sector healthcare in the state, warning that,medical practices will struggle to meet veterans’ needs if more VA care is outsourced and its own facilities are downsized or closed. VA patients will have longer wait times for appointments. They will drive further to get less “veteran centric” treatment. And they will be deprived of the wrap-around services currently available to over 120,000 Nevada residents who have qualified for VA coverage due to their low-income, service-related conditions, or recent service in combat zones. A recent assessment of the state’s healthcare access problems, by the University of Nevada Medical School in Reno, makes this danger quite clear, particularly for vets in rural areas. As the authors of another research paper found, Nevada ranks nationally “among the lowest states in terms of available primary care doctors and general surgeons per capita, resulting in limited access to essential services and an increased reliance on emergency departments and hospitals.” Currently, none of the state’s 17 counties have enough primary care providers, while 12 report a severe shortage of mental health providers. In 2023, nearly 87 percent of all Nevada residents lived in a federally-designated “mental health professional shortage area.”

In a new report in the Nevada Current, VHPI Senior Policy Analyst Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early dig into the data and show how VA privatization in Nevada will leave countless veteran patients with few private care options. Read the full piece here.