2016 Obamacare Individual Medical Insurance Open Enrollment is already shaping up to be much more successful than the past 2 years.
Staff Changes at the Exchange
SSHIX has a new Acting Insurance Commissioner Amy Parks. They also have a relatively new Exchange Executive Director Bruce Gilbert, Working with the exchange has become much easier. Now we have switched over from a State Based Marketplace to a Federally Facilitated Exchange. As a result much of the overhead responsibility lies with the Federal Government. What the local Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (SSHIX) does do is help promote the Marketplace. They also troubleshoot complicated issues for Nevadans.
One major issue still creeping back from 2014 involves corrected form 1095A’s. A 1095 is a statement from the Marketplace to an individual showing how much of a tax credit someone received in the previous year. Xerox ran the software in 2014. Xerox didn’t quite have the data correct (to say the least). Incorrect 1095A’s were sent to many Nevadans. A second major issue involves the required documents and appeals process. SSHIX doesn’t have control over either of these however they are working with consumers to solve this problem.
Next for 2016
This next upcoming 2016 Obamacare Open Enrollment will be different. SSHIX is already looking at making the enrollment process more streamline and easier to access. Instead of just advertising nevadahealthlink.com they will be advertising Special Events. These events will allow members to enroll in person. In 2014-2015 these events were held at the state sponsored Enrollment Store. You will now see special events held at different locations.
This year SSHIX is working much more closely with brokers and insurance carriers to improve the consumer process. Many brokers, like us, have useful and constructive feedback to help improve the experience for our clients. We also realize our local SSHIX only has control over so much. It truly is a Federal Government problem. We’re attempting to work as closely as possible with SSHIX to help as many Nevadans successfully enroll as possible.
