Health Exchange working much better this year, director says

After a disastrous first year, the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange is working much more smoothly this year.

The state dropped its independent website and went with the federal exchange this time around and, according to exchange Director Bruce Gilbert, things are working much more smoothly with nearly 39,000 Nevadans enrolled in health insurance plans.

He also assured a joint Assembly Ways and Means/Senate Finance Committee the exchange will be fully self-supporting on the fees it collects from insurance companies. This coming biennium, that monthly fee adds $13 to each premium payment for the more than 39,000 people signed up for insurance through the exchange but Gilbert said it should go down to $12.17 in the future.

“Assuming we do a good job and we bring in enough people, we are absolutely self-sustaining,” Gilbert told the committee.

Gilbert said, however, there might be a hit on the budget in the future from the federal exchange, which his office relies on to actually process insurance policies for Nevadans.

“The federal government has not charged us to this point in time for using their platform,” he said. “I fully expect we will be asked to contribute.”

But he said since the Silver State exchange handles so many functions at the state level, “that (payment) will be a product of negotiation.”

The state exchange expects to reach 41,000 insured enrollees by the end of the coming biennium plus another 17,000 insured for dental coverage.

That will generate an estimated $12.76 million in revenue from fees during the biennium which Gilbert said will be enough to more than enough to cover the projected $12.36 million in expenditures. The exchange has 13 full-time employees to handle the processing of insurance policies.

The committee took no action on the proposed budget.