Early Voting October 19th through November 2nd & Election Day November 5th
Jennifer Atlas
for Senate District 5
MY WHY
When I went to the hospital to have my son, things went really, really wrong. After more than fifty hours of labor, I had an emergency c-section. I had a fever, was septic, and my newborn lost oxygen, all in the first twenty-four hours of his life.
I was told he would survive, but the doctors didn’t know if he would ever walk or talk.
He laid in an induced coma for five days. Our twenty-one days in the NICU were terrifying and traumatic, surrounded by tubes, alarms, and fragile babies fighting for their lives. It was almost too much to bear.
During such a vulnerable time, no parent should be burdened with worrying about the cost of saving their child’s life. After leaving the hospital, we were hit with over $500,000 in medical bills. The costs put my family so far in debt, we couldn’t afford to keep up.
What I didn’t know then — and what so many families don’t know — is that any newborn requiring NICU care automatically qualifies for Medicaid. Parents simply need to enroll them, even if they already have insurance.
That’s why I will fight to ensure that every newborn in Nevada who requires NICU care is automatically enrolled in Medicaid, so parents can focus on their child’s recovery — not on hospital bills.
When elected, my first bill will be to protect every Nevada mother, child, and family from crushing hospital bills that could have been avoided.
Together, let’s make sure that every baby who needs NICU care gets the coverage they deserve.