The state of Maryland has an insurance plan for persons such as yourself who do not qualify for private health insurance. I am sure that Nevada has an equivalent - I believe SHIP is it’s name, but I’m not certain. Good luck to you.
Minute Clinics are not the way to go, they only treat certain non-serious medical problems (allergies, strep, UTIs, skin infections, vaccines) and charge about $60. If the ER couldn’t figure out what’s wrong, don’t go here. They are staffed with ARNPs and probably won’t be able to help much unless you already know what you’re going for.
SB:
Depending on your situation, you might apply for Nevada Medicaid under a disability provision (even if you don’t necessarily consider yourself disabled).
There’s a company out in Las Vegas called Twin Medical, which has recently been acquired by a group called Medassist. Both companies provide a variety of hospital services, but Medassist is particularly well known for revenue compensation through Medicaid sign-ups. If a local hospital contracts through Medassist (I imagine whatever the community hospital in Clark County does), they may be able to provide you with a lot of information about what sort of public assistance you may be eligible for.
I can provide you with a little more info or some tips and tricks if you want to contact me via PM.
The first step is to get a primary care physician. Be upfront about your unisured status. Some docs will still take you on as a patient and bill you at the Medicaid rates. But you’re still expected to pay. For that initial consultation, bring in th records you have and let the doc know what’s going on. Be honest about your inability to pay for a lot of speculative tests. The doc will often know a specialist who will see the occassional patient for free or close to it. If the spedialist needs to have tests run, she’ll often try to get them done for free at the local charity hospital. They may require that you complete paperwork. There will be hoops to jump through, but you have to take action for yourself. It’s no use thinking that the magical red-tape fairy will come straighten everything out, the doctor’s staff will help, but they’re busy and it’s up to you.
Good luck,
StG
This seems to indicate that it’s a program designed to help medicare patients understand their coverage.
Nevada has nothing like this - and is the reason I ended up moving overseas to obtain insurance.