The opportunity to buy health insurance has mostly been closed for the year – but not if you live in the state of Nevada.
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper says people can sign up for insurance whenever they want to, but they won’t be able to get financial help, and they’ll have to wait 90 days before the coverage kicks in.
"If the legislature had not done this, and a consumer wanted to purchase insurance, and had not attempted to do so before open enrollment, they would have had to wait until November 15th to buy a policy, and that wouldn’t have been effective until January 1st. We thought that that was a little strident," says Kipper.
Kipper also says he wants consumers who change their mind about coverage after open enrollment ends, to have another opportunity to sign up
"We really did think that there might be situations where an individual might change his mind or her mind and wanted to buy health insurance and had second thoughts, so giving them an opportunity albeit with a significant waiting period felt like a pretty good compromise," says Kipper.
Nevadans who tried to sign up through the state’s exchange, but had technical problems will have until the end of May to do so.
Nevada’s health exchange and its contractor Xerox have been sued by consumers who say they’ve signed up and paid, but have not received coverage.
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