Nevada residents have filed a lawsuit against the state’s Obamacare exchange and the company tasked with building the marketplace as they found themselves without coverage despite paying for plans.
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Larry Basich, who paid premiums for several months and never received health coverage, was joined by Lea Swartley in filing a suit against the state of Nevada, Silver State Health Insurance Exchange and Xerox, which built the exchange. Represented by the Nevada-based firm, Callister & Associates, Basich and Swartley’s lawsuit against the Obamacare exchange is the first filed since the law was implemented in October.
“This has nothing to do with the ACA,” Matthew Callister, the attorney representing Basich and Swartley, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “This is 100 percent about Xerox, who won the bid from the state of Nevada to create this exchange. And they’ve failed. They absolutely failed.”
Since filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Nevada on Tuesday, more than 40 other Nevadans have come forward, claiming they paid for health insurance yet never received coverage.
According to Callister, Nevada Health Link — the Obamacare exchange run by Silver State Health Insurance Exchange — has a “pends” list of more than 10,500 left without coverage.
Basich selected a plan under Nevada Health Link several months ago and began paying his premiums monthly. Then, in December, the Nevada man suffered a heart attack and underwent triple bypass surgery. Basich found himself with $407,000 in medical bills and no health insurance — despite having selected a plan and making payments for it — because of a miscommunication between Nevada Health Link and Xerox.
Similarly, Swartley also was left without coverage despite paying for a plan. Pregnant, she was due to give birth Tuesday night.
“She’s having a baby, and she has no coverage, even though she was told she would have coverage and has been paying for premiums,” Callister said. “She’s scared to death and does not have coverage.”
Xerox beat out four other companies to build Nevada’s Obamacare exchange. Since the marketplace rolled out with glitches and malfunctions, though, the state granted Deloitte a $1.5 million contract to help fix the exchange.
“I just want to get people covered who paid for coverage,” Callister said. “State law said that’s what’s supposed to happen.”
