Enrollment in Nevada Health Link, Nevada’s online health insurance exchange, remains far short of its target. The program has reached less than 10% of its goal for the first open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare”, so far. Nearly five times as many Nevadans have signed up for Medicaid and CHIP, taxpayer-funded health plans for which enrollees pay little or nothing, than have enrolled in Qualified Health Plans (QHP) through the state exchange.
According to a tweet from the Nevada Health Link twitter account, just 10,547 Nevadans had enrolled in a QHP from the beginning of the open enrollment period on October 1, 2013 through January 4, 2014. Nevada Health Link considers a person to be enrolled in a QHP only after it has received payment from the enrollee. Some states, as well the exchange run by the federal government, consider a person to be enrolled when the prospective enrollee has confirmed a selection of a QHP, at least one step short of making a payment. The same tweet indicated 17,673 had confirmed selections.
A report on the website of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, the body that oversees Nevada Health Link, reveals that 17,946 Nevadans had confirmed a QHP selection and 10,776 had enrolled in a QHP through Nevada Health Link through January 5, 2014. This report was prepared for the Exchange’s Board Meeting to be held on January 9.
The 10,776 figure is just 9% of the 118,000 Nevadans estimated to sign up during the first open enrollment period of Obamacare, which runs from October 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014. It is also less than half of the 24,623 Nevadans the state’s Division of Insurance revealed lost their existing individual insurance coverage due to changes in the law brought about by Obamacare.
In a report prepared for a June 12, 2013 Silver State Health Insurance Exchange meeting, 80% of a particular program’s enrollees were predicted to enroll in time to receive coverage on January 1, 2014. Applying that same 80% estimate to the overall goal of 118,000 results in a figure of 94,400 expected enrollments by December 23, 2013, the revised date to enroll in a QHP and be covered on January 1, 2014.
The 10,776 who enrolled by January 5 represent just over 11% of that 94,400. More than 100,000 Nevadans will have to sign up for coverage through the exchange in less than 90 days for the program to hit its target for this initial open enrollment period.
The report prepared for the January 9 board meeting reveals that 51,197 Nevadans had enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP through Nevada Health Link by January 5, 2014. Medicaid is expected to cover 170,000 more Nevadans in 2015 than it did in 2013. Health care costs for enrollees in Medicaid and CHIP are paid almost entirely by state and federal taxpayers. The Nevada Legislature in 2013 rejected a proposal that would have required certain Medicaid recipients to contribute up to $5.00 per month toward their own health insurance.
