Affordable healthcare emerges as a voter priority in purple Nevada

One issue will decide Steven Cohen's vote for Nevada governor this fall: Which candidate can best protect him from getting kicked off Medicaid ? Cohen is a 38-year-old Las Vegas resident with autism and has dual enrollment in Medicaid and Medicare. He said he's very concerned that he could lose his Medicaid coverage once work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks take effect in January, under congressional Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act. "When you're going to some providers, notably mental health, once a month, or in the case of one provider, a couple of times a week, those copays quickly add up," Cohen said. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is running for reelection in a tight race against Democratic state Attorney General Aaron Ford in one of 39 U.S. gubernatorial elections to be decided in November. Lombardo has President Trump's endorsement , but healthcare policy changes made by the Trump administration are working against him with voters like Cohen in the swing state. Those changes include Medicaid funding cuts that are expected to strain state budgets, along with new work requirement and eligibility rules for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , which provides food assistance for low-income families. …