Nevada Watch
Featured news in this section focuses on Nevada, the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (Nevada Health Link), the Nevada Division of Insurance (in the Department of Business and Industry), and actions by the state legislature affecting insurance brokers and clients.
More than 22,500 Nevadans have signed up for health insurance on the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange, up 40 percent over the same period last year, data released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows.
The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (Exchange), Nevada’s state agency that helps individuals obtain budget-appropriate health coverage through the online marketplace, Nevada Health Link, continues to offer affordable health plans, amidst the increase in individual market premium rates affecting the current 2018 open enrollment period, which runs through December 15 this year.
Nevada’s health insurance enrollment period is running smoothly so far, though the director of the state’s exchange under the Affordable Care Act says there may still be challenges.
Nevada’s health exchange is looking to once again run its own enrollment site, a move off the healthcare.gov platform that could save the state millions of dollars.
A huge federal cut to health insurance outreach is spurring awareness efforts, with minority and rural communities considered some of the most at risk of missing the message.
Against a backdrop of months of congressional debate and executive action on Obamacare, Nevada’s health insurance exchange, brokers and other advocates are battening down the hatches ahead of the sixth open enrollment period — and what could be the most challenging one yet.
The state exchange that helps 89,000 low-income Nevadans obtain health insurance is being hit with federal cutbacks that could hurt the program.
Governor Brian Sandoval called the president’s decision to end critical payments from the federal government that help health insurance companies offer affordable coverage to lower-income Americans “devastating,” though officials with the state’s insurance exchange say Nevadans won’t feel any immediate impact in the coming plan year.
Nevada will see some changes in the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange in 2018, including plans and pricing. Open enrollment runs from November 1 to December 15. The 45-day sign-up period is half as long as it was last year. In the meantime, people who plan to sign up for insurance on the exchange are encouraged to start shopping for a plan.
Nevada officials are exploring alternative avenues for insuring more than 26,300 children in the state covered under the Children’s Health Insurance Program if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the program, which is set to expire Saturday.