A bipartisan group of mayors including Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve called on Congress on Wednesday to find a different solution to address the nation’s health care needs, saying the bill currently before the Senate is not the right path forward.

The Senate bill could exacerbate the opioid epidemic, prevent treatment for substance abuse issues and foist an additional 22 million uninsured Americans on clinics and emergency rooms, the mayors said on a call with reporters sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Almost all of the mayors hail from states with Republican senators who oppose or have serious concerns with the bill.

Schieve, a nonpartisan, praised Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval for encouraging Republican Sen. Dean Heller to ignore possible backlash from his party and speak out in opposition to the legislation, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Sandoval has long opposed any version of a health care bill that would roll back the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, which he chose to opt Nevada into in 2012.

“I do want to commend Governor Brian Sandoval who has done a tremendous job in the state getting Senator Dean Heller to the table,” Schieve said. “I do want to commend the work of what he’s been doing in really pushing this forward. Nevadans are obviously incredibly concerned since Senator Dean Heller has been at the forefront of this.”

Schieve said she spoke with many mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami over the weekend about Heller’s stance and what would happen to their cities if the legislation moved forward.

“I was sort of a popular mayor at the conference, not for the right reasons, unfortunately. Many of them expressed severe backlash this would cause right here in our own cities,” Schieve said.

Though it has improved from the darkest days of the recession, Nevada still struggles to provide adequate mental health services.

The Silver State ranked in 51st place in Mental Health America’s 2017 state rankings, and an estimated 18.5 percent of adults in Nevada had a mental illness in 2014, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Nearly seven out of ten Nevada residents with a mental illness don’t receive treatment, according the National Institute of Mental Health.

The opioid epidemic, meanwhile, has been a top priority for Sandoval, who has shepherded two major omnibus substance abuse bills through the last two legislative sessions. Nevada has the fourth-highest drug overdose mortality rate, 20.7 per 100,000 residents in 2010, and the state’s doctors write 94 painkiller prescriptions for every 100 residents.

“We know that the epidemic here with the opioid addiction is huge and mental health is huge,” Schieve said. “Quite frankly, mayors are left holding the bag. It’s really up to us to come together and have this strong voice.”

If the Senate bill passes, Nevada would need to find $480 million to continue existing levels of coverage under Medicaid expansion. If it can’t, the state would have to shrink eligibility, shrink services or end the program entirely for the 276,000 Nevadans who now receive Medicaid coverage under the expansion.

Other mayors joining Schieve on the call included Bill de Blasio from New York City; John Giles from Mesa, AZ; Nan Whaley from Dayton, OH; Stephen Williams from Huntington, WV; Ethan Berkowitz from Anchorage, AK; and Joe Baldacci from Bangor, ME.

Baldacci, a Democrat, called his state’s Republican Sen. Collins “courageous” for coming out against the legislation earlier this week. The senator said the legislation does not address health care issues in rural Maine and cuts to Medicaid threaten the nation’s most vulnerable populations in announcing her decision to vote “no” on the bill.

“It’s very important that this bill be defeated,” Baldacci said. “We are all in the same situation.”

Giles, a Republican, said that he appreciates that the legislation will reduce the deficit by roughly $320 billion over the next decade, but not at the expense of leaving an additional 22 million Americans uninsured.

De Blasio, the only mayor on the call without a Republican senator from his state, said the “ballgame is far from over” but that he was hopeful that the Senate bill would meet a different fate than the House’s version of the health care bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) that passed in early May.

“We saw a trajectory with the House bill that is cautionary. The first time around, it didn’t work. The second time around it didn’t work. The third time around it did,” de Blasio said. “That being said, I would say this time the difference is the Senate is a very different body and not only mayors but other voices of conscience are reaching out intensely.”

Hillary Schieve's mayoral campaign was overseen by Jessica Sferrazza, who is Editor Jon Ralston's wife. They are close friends.

Feature photo: Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve at her first city council meeting as mayor at Reno City Hall on November 12, 2014. Photo by David Calvert.