State approves contract with Xerox State Healthcare
Plans to build a health insurance exchange in Nevada are moving ahead. The state’s Board of Examiners has approved a $72 million contract that will enable the construction of an exchange system this week. The contract tasks Xerox State Healthcare with establishing the computer system and operations that will be needed to begin enrolling people into the Nevada health insurance exchange. Per the contract, the company is to have the system up and running by October 2013, which will enable consumers to enroll into the program.
Xerox to oversee the establishment of the Nevada health insurance exchange
The startup costs of the Nevada health insurance exchange are being covered through grants provided by the federal government. The state has received more than $25 million so far and officials note that the approval of another $50 million in grants is currently pending. The state’s contract with Xerox State Healthcare will run through 2016. The Nevada health insurance exchange is expected to be self-sustaining by 2014, with the state assuming responsibility of operational costs beginning in 2015. In the meantime, Xerox will be liable for the financial aspects of the program, supported by the grants the state has received.
Law requires states to build their own exchange programs
States are required to build their own health insurance exchanges in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. The federal government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, has issued grants to assist with the construction of the programs. Each state is required to have an operational health insurance exchange in place by 2014. Failure to comply with this standard will mean intervention from the federal government, which will establish an exchange itself.
Nevada exchange almost universally supported
The Nevada health insurance exchange gas received nearly universal support from the state’s politicians. Those that have opposed the exchange do so on grounds of the unconstitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April, thus ensuring that states will have to build exchanges, but the upcoming presidential elections may still put an end to the expansive health care law.