Thousands of Nevadans need to find new health insurer by fall

Troubled health insurance company Friday Health Plans of Nevada will be liquidated in September and over 2,800 Nevadans will need to find a new insurer, state officials said.

Friday Health Plans of Nevada’s assets will be sold on Sept. 1 and those still insured by the company will need to find a new health insurer on or before Aug. 31 to avoid a gap in coverage, according to a news release from the state Division of Insurance. There will be a special enrollment period for those impacted to get into a policy provided by Nevada Health Link, which is run by the state agency the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.

“Nevada Health Link is committed to offering quality and affordable health insurance options,” said Katie Charleson, the communications officer for Nevada Health Link, in a statement. “We have a network of over 700 brokers and seven navigator entities across the state offering free enrollment assistance to any Nevadan who will experience a loss of coverage from Friday Health Plans.”

Nevada Health Link partners with six insurance carriers offering nearly 100 different qualified health plan options on NevadaHealthLink.com, the agency said.

Here are some important dates to follow for those needing to find new insurance:

July 25: Special enrollment period begins.

Aug. 31: Last day to enroll without a gap in coverage.

Oct. 31: Last day of special enrollment period.

Nov. 1: Open enrollment period on Nevada Health Link begins.

Friday Health Plans, which is based out of Colorado, offers insurance policies to people who don’t have health insurance as part of their job.

Friday Health Plans of Nevada has been on unstable footing in the past weeks as the Division of Insurance took over the operations of the health insurer in June due to “inconsistent financial filings” from the company. The Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal these filings happened over the course of six to nine months and information around the company’s level of capital was concerning.

“The level of capital and reserves seem to be a bit of a moving target,” he said. “Anytime we see something like that raises some grave concerns for us.”

The company has not protested actions taken by Nevada regulators since the company couldn’t scale its financial infrastructure to meet the pace of its growth, according to a statement on the Friday Health Plans website.

Nevada isn’t the only state where Friday Health Plans is facing liquidation. Colorado regulators are also moving to liquidate the company’s operations in its home state and force more than 30,000 people to find new insurance policies, the Colorado Sun reported. Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and North Carolina also have put the health insurer into receivership, according to reports. It’s unclear what this means for the future of the company moving forward.

People with questions about finding new coverage can visit the website NevadaHealthLink.com or call 800-547-2927.

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. or @seanhemmers34 on Twitter.