Nevada Supreme Court Denies Insurance to Smoker

Could this be the start of a trend?

The Nevada Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ruling that a Las Vegas police officer was not entitled to coverage for heart disease.

Under state law, a police officer continuously employed for more than five years is entitled to the presumption that any heart disease is work related. Patricia Guesman, however, was denied coverage by both the hearing officer and a district judge.

The Supreme Court noted coverage is not automatic if “after the police officer's annual medical exam, the examining physician ordered her in writing to correct a predisposing condition that was within her ability to correct and the officer failed to do so.”

The three-justice panel of Ron Parraguirre, Michael Douglas and Kris Pickering pointed out that smoking is a predisposing condition to heart disease. Guesman was warned to stop smoking but failed to do so.

So I guess when the Nevada state's finest develops any form of heart disease (i.e., critical aortic stenosis not typically associated with smoking) and treatment is required, the cost burden will shift from the state to the federal government.

Perfect.

Gee, I wonder why they didn't exclude treatments for oral and bladder cancers, too?

-Wes

PS: All this while Nevada works to ease up on its smoking ban.