It looks like Xerox is bailing out early

Xerox is supposed to stick around through November to run Nevada Health Link’s website, but some insurance sources say the contractor essentially has bailed on the project.

Word is, the website contractor has reassigned key personnel to other states and pared staffing in its Henderson call center.

The call center has cut its operations by three hours a day, closing at 5 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. That wouldn’t ordinarily raise eyebrows, because open enrollment ended March 31 and special enrollment closed May 30. With sign-ups all but coming to a stop, personnel needs should dwindle somewhat.

The problem is, enrollment and coverage glitches for consumers who signed up are as bad as ever, insurance brokers say. And they can’t always find a live, local person to help.

“When we make calls, we end up with another call center someplace on the East Coast. That makes it very difficult communications-wise, because I don’t think they have access to information that the people here would have,” Las Vegas insurance broker Dwight Mazzone said. “The whole system is pretty much compartmentalized. A case goes to a special unit or to accounting or wherever, and it seems to me like it’s a black hole.”

Xerox wouldn’t say whether it has cut local staffing levels.

“Xerox is currently engaged in ongoing discussions with state representatives to resolve in a mutually acceptable manner the issues related to Xerox’s role as the primary vendor on Nevada Health Link,” spokeswoman Jennifer Wasmer said. “Xerox will continue to provide services to Nevada Health Link and support to Nevadans seeking access to affordable health care until such a resolution is reached.”

Wasmer didn’t respond to an email asking for more details on whether Xerox has downsized.

But insurance professionals say the evidence is in the results. Take broker Pat Casale, who said it has become “almost impossible” to get return calls from the contractor.

“You would think they would step up their game, but it seems they’ve backed off of their game,” Casale said. “They’re not being as accountable as they were before. It’s my opinion they’re just going through the motions, and they want to reduce their expenses in Nevada.”

Such reductions would come at a cost to Nevada consumers. Mazzone said 9,000 to 12,000 cases might still have enrollment, billing and effective-date issues. Meanwhile, Xerox workers who promised him and his clients help three to four weeks ago still haven’t responded.

“There are no benchmarks. Nobody knows what (Xerox is) doing. We know only on a case-by-case basis. We’ve argued, we’ve tried, we’ve fought, we’ve done everything to get cases resolved. They say, ‘We’ve done everything we can. Now, it’s up to the insurance carriers.’ But the carriers say, ‘They haven’t given us the information we’ve asked for.’ ”

Nevada Health Link is scheduled to begin borrowing federal sign-up and eligibility functions when open enrollment relaunches Nov. 15. The board of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange will weigh a permanent replacement system in 2015.

■ More people might be getting insured under the Affordable Care Act, but that won’t stop a key population group from going without important services.

That’s according to a local nonprofit organization that says it sees increasing demand for the mental health and substance-abuse counseling services it provides.

Ron Lawrence, executive director of the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada, said the law has both helped and hurt consumers.

For starters, Medicaid, the public insurance program for low-income households, covers treatment for substance abuse.

“A lot more people have care, and that’s the good part,” Lawrence said.

A third of the counseling center’s patients carry some form of coverage, up from just 5 percent a year ago, Lawrence said. The center has added four employees to its staff of 50 to help with administrative demands that come with higher insurance penetration.

But consumers who make a little too much to qualify for Medicaid — more than $16,104 for a single or $32,913 for a household of four — are getting left behind, Lawrence said.

That’s because the lower-premium plans they’re buying through Nevada Health Link come with deductibles of $5,000 to $7,000 a year, an impossible expense for someone making just $18,000 or $20,000 a year.

For such households, the Affordable Care Act has been “an act of futility,” he said. Some patients have talked about dropping coverage and paying the federal uninsured tax, which starts at $95 a year and goes up to 1 percent of income.

“I’ve had people say, ‘I’d rather pay the fine than have something I can’t use.’ We have people throwing up their hands and saying, ‘I can’t do this.’ It hurts to hear those words, because we want everyone to be taken care of,” Lawrence said.

That consumer frustration also means some patients will go without care, waiting until they’re at a “crisis level” to get help, he said.

Lawrence laid out three possible solutions. In the near term, Nevadans can donate to community groups directly or through the United Way to provide grant money that will cover bills for people who can’t afford to pay out of pocket. Community Counseling Center serves about 3,000 locals a year with $3 million in grant funds, lowering the cost of group therapy for some patients to as little as $2 per session.

But consumers should take action to find a more affordable, lower-deductible plan when Nevada Health Link reopens for enrollment in the fall, he said.

His third idea for change is longer-term — and more challenging.

“What I hope for is further evolution in health care plans and our whole system, so that there’s not one person who falls through the cracks,” he said.