Another state nixes its health exchange

Nevada fired Xerox Tuesday from managing its state health exchange website, Nevada Health Link, after a series of problems with the site.

The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange board voted unanimously to cut ties with Xerox, stating it had lost faith the company could fix a slew of problems that plagued its insurance exchange site before the November enrollment period begins.

{mosads}CJ Bawden, a spokesman for the exchange, said Nevada Health Link will redirect all users to HealthCare.gov during the November 2014 enrollment period, but the state is looking for a new partner to build its health exchange site in time for the 2016 enrollment period.

While the site won’t be enrolling people, the state exchange program will continue to administer navigator sister programs, approve plan certifications and plan managements, as well as conduct their own marketing and advertising.
 
According to Bawden, Xerox had already been paid $12.3 million by the state to build the failed site and could not speculate how much more it would need to spend to get the site up and running properly with a new contractor.

Nevada joins a list of states of late that have abandoned their own health exchange sites, including Massachusetts and Oregon, for HealthCare.gov.