Special enrollment period opened to buy insurance

Heather Korbulic, executive director of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, on Thursday, Jan. 28 issued a statement in support of President Joe Biden’s special enrollment period to encourage Americans to purchase health insurance plans from their respective exchange marketplaces.

“On behalf of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange and Nevadans statewide, we are pleased to see positive change taking place at the federal level and to witness the fast-moving actions to protect the Affordable Care Act, upon which so many Americans rely for quality, affordable and comprehensive health insurance coverage,” Korbulic wrote in the statement.

The news from Washington came just after the exchange announced that nearly 82,000 Nevadans enrolled on Nevada Health Link for coverage in 2021, nearly a 6% increase from last year’s enrollment total.

More important to Korbulic, Biden’s move made it clear to her that the new administration will be supportive of the ACA and of moves to bolster the health insurance marketplace.

“We look forward to collaborating with our carriers, other state agencies and our statewide network of brokers and navigators who are standing by to help Nevadans get connected with health insurance,” she wrote. “We offer assistance in multiple languages, including Spanish, Tagalog and Mandarin.”

Korbulic reminded Nevadans that the exchange is the only place consumers can qualify for subsidies to offset the cost of insurance premiums.

“Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, no Nevadan should be without health insurance,” she wrote. “We are here to help.”