An executive director of a health insurance exchange in Nevada said that the state-based marketplace has helped the region save as much as a million dollars in 2015.
In an interview conducted by the American Journal of Managed Care, Executive Director Bruce Gilbert of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange in Nevada explained how the exchange managed to not only attract more enrollees for this year, but also to help citizens of the state potentially save a considerable amount of money.
Gilbert highlighted that the primary benefit of Nevada’s state-based marketplace was economic. By adopting a state-based model instead of the federal-facilitated marketplace, Gilbert said, Nevada’s citizens have saved nearly $1.2 million last year. He also noted that thanks to the state-based model, “state-specific marketing, state-specific outreach, and state-specific consumer education” could be easily implemented than the state would if it had participated in the Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM).
The executive director added that while Silver State Health Insurance Exchange is not as large as the FFM or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the exchange will take its time to reach out specifically to its consumers in its own local market. This, Gilbert believes, has “made a difference both in terms of enrollment and in terms of insurance literacy.”