Lost state insurance payments leave many exposed

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Lost state insurance payments leave many exposed

August 26, 2014 - 6:06pm

By JENNIFER ROBISON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Bobby Tran and Ha Le paid nearly $7,000 in insurance premiums to Nevada Health Link through August and had nothing to show but $3,000 in medical bills.

The couple, Las Vegas manicurists, spent $573 a month starting Jan. 1 on platinum coverage through the state’s health insurance exchange, created under the Affordable Care Act to sell federally subsidized plans. ... Inexplicably, the payments never made it to the couple’s insurer, Health Plan of Nevada. The couple racked up thousands in medical bills before learning there was a problem.
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BILLS POURING IN

The couple signed up for a plan ahead of the Dec. 15 deadline for coverage effective Jan. 1, and paid their first premium in January. They didn’t worry when their ID cards didn’t come until February — Tran said he understood there were computer glitches.

What he didn’t know was that Xerox, the Nevada Health Link website contractor and the party responsible for forwarding payments to carriers, was apparently not sending his money to Health Plan of Nevada. ... After 90 days without payment, consumers lose their coverage, so Health Plan of Nevada dropped Tran and Le after April 30. ... Tran and Le didn’t get a cancellation notice until July — two months after they arranged for medical procedures, lab tests and medications they thought were covered.
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Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at 702-380-4512 or [e-mail]. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.