Heh. For just a “local” story, this one sure has some pretty disastrous national implications.
Nevada, like Oregon, has decided to drop its own state-run Obamacare exchange in favor of HealthCare.gov. Because great success!
Nevada, the only GOP-led state to do an Obamacare exchange, is the latest to fold and go to http://t.co/xw80SoV35F
— Jennifer Haberkorn (@jenhab) May 20, 2014
Via @abbygoodnough, Nevada is defaulting to http://t.co/A3RhMOwGpu. Second state to officially do so (Oregon being first).
— Sarah Kliff (@sarahkliff) May 20, 2014
But throwing in the towel doesn’t come cheap:
NEWS: Nevada dumping state #Obamacare exchange. May need $57M to join Fed. HIX on top of $72M contract w/@XeroxCorp): http://t.co/2TCyXfG5q6
— Twila Brase (@twilabrase) May 20, 2014
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
The board of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange voted this morning to dump the contractor that botched the building of its Nevada Health Link website, and to move partly into the federal system for at least the next year.
The move would let the state exchange keep its autonomy and its member-based funding, and to allow the marketplace to switch to an operational website from another state for its 2016 enrollment period.
The change to a new system could cost as much as $57 million in addition to the $72 million contract the exchange already had with Xerox. But exchange officials said they’ve already applied for federal grants to cover the cost. Plus, the cost of buying another system may drop considerably by the time the exchange is ready to go forward in late 2015, state officials said.
“Federal grants to cover the cost.” That always works out well for taxpayers, right?
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Board of Nevada's troubled insurance exchange has voted to drop Xerox as vendor, move to a partnership exchange with the feds for a year…
— Abby Goodnough (@abbygoodnough) May 20, 2014
Nevada exchange plans to adopt another state's system, maybe CT's, in time for 2015-16 enrollment pd. In meantime, it will partner w/feds.
— Abby Goodnough (@abbygoodnough) May 20, 2014
Clarification: Nevada will have a 'federally supported' state exchange for the 2014-15 enrollment period, not a full partnership exchange.
— Abby Goodnough (@abbygoodnough) May 20, 2014
@sarahkliff It's a bit different… they'll use pieces of fed system for a year, then move to 'exchange in a box' from CT or other state
— Abby Goodnough (@abbygoodnough) May 20, 2014
Oh, we’re sure everything will be working just fine by then.
Nevada drops Xerox as #health #insurance exchange contractor. Xerox says decision "extremely disappointing" #Obamacare #ACA #hcr #healthcare
— Jason Hidalgo (@jasonhidalgo) May 20, 2014
This is Obamacare. Expect to be disappointed.
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