Report: State insurers have edge

RENO -- A report released Thursday by a national health care consumer group said Nevada law favors insurance carriers over consumer protections.

"Failing Grades," the report by the Washington D.C.-based group Families USA, surveyed insurance commissioners in all 50 states on regulatory oversight and found that laws in most states benefit insurers to consumers' detriment.

"The individual health insurance market is still the Wild, Wild West for America's health care consumers," Families USA executive director Ron Pollack said.

"It is a market with many abuses and with far too few state-level consumer protections."

The report said Nevada, like most states, fails to require affordable coverage for all consumers, allowing insurers to "cherry pick" healthy customers.

Nevada is among 35 states that have no limits on how much insurers can raise premiums based on health status, the report said.

Also, the report said Nevada is among 21 states that allow insurers to exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions for more than year; and among 44 states where insurers can revoke coverage without advance review by the state.