Friday is the last day consumers can enroll in Nevada’s state health care exchange

By Kyle Roerink

Thursday, May 29, 2014 | 2 a.m.

Friday is the final day consumers can enroll for insurance on Nevada's health care exchange if they had problems signing up previously during the system's disastrous rollout.

Software malfunctions with Nevada Health Link prevented thousands of Nevadans from signing up for health insurance plans on the state exchange between November and March. The state hoped to enroll 118,000 people in the exchange by March. Only 35,000 had enrolled as of May 10.

The Nevada Health Co-Op, one of the exchange's four health insurance providers, is offering one-on-one help with enrollment and appeals at its walk-in center at 3900 Meadows Lane until the deadline on Friday. In-person help is also available from the Nevada Primary Care Association, Consumer Assistance Resource Enterprise and the Ramirez Group. To obtain assistance, call 855-768-5465.

After its troubled launch, the health care exchange gave a 60-day extension on March 20 to Nevadans who attempted to sign up for insurance but were plagued by the system’s problems. The state also gave an extension until Sept. 30 to those who were eligible for a qualifying life event, such as a change in income, divorce, marriage or childbirth.

On May 19, the state fired Xerox, the software maker hired to build the online health exchange. An internal audit highlighted 1,500 technical glitches in the software. The state will now switch to the federal healthcare.gov for the next enrollment period that begins in November. In the meantime, it will hire a new contractor to rebuild software to replace the work done by Xerox.