Nevada health insurance exchange shows slightly improved numbers
Improved, but far short of the ultimate goal.
That was how new numbers from Nevada’s health insurance exchange looked on Friday.
The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange’s Nevada Health Link reported that 4,834 Nevadans have confirmed qualified health plan selections through the marketplace. That was up from early November, when 513 people had paid for or scheduled payments for plans, and 1,484 others had confirmed enrollments.
Still, the latest figures are well below targets. Officials say they’re aiming for 118,000 sign-ups by March 31.
The number of plan selections is also small compared with page views at www.nevadahealthlink.com. The exchange’s report, written for the state’s Economic Forum, said the website has had 4.4 million hits and 458,000 unique visitors since its Oct. 1 launch. It’s also had 68,984 eligibility determinations, through which people figure out whether they’re able to buy through the exchange, or whether they’ll get covered through Medicaid instead.
Exchange officials didn’t comment by Friday afternoon, but they said in their report that enrollment has doubled every two weeks as the Dec. 15 deadline looms to apply for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1. Consumers can still enroll from Dec. 16 to March 31, but they’ll have a waiting period of 15 to 45 days before coverage takes effect.
Exchange stats also show that confirmed dental plan selections are nearly double enrollments in health plans. More than 8,300 people have chosen dental coverage through the network.
Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.
