State to begin vetting applications to set up health insurance exchange platform

April 13--CARSON CITY -- Applications from potential vendors who want to set up Nevada's state-run health exchange platform are up for review as of Friday afternoon.

The state is opening bids from companies that had to apply by today's deadline. A scoring committee will take two or three weeks to evaluate the proposals, and then the top two or three companies are going to be invited to give demonstrations, said Heather Korbulic, executive director of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.

"From there we'll negotiate contracts if it seems those are the right pricing and the right tools," Korbulic said.

Applicants are required to have at least a year of experience successfully implementing similar systems for other states.

"It's a smaller pool when you start limiting things like that," Korbulic said. "We're not looking to create new wheels."

Korbulic said these companies already have the parts to create a state-run platform, and just need to make the pieces compatible for Nevada. The site needs to communicate with the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services as well as the carriers on the exchange. Korbulic said the vendor that is chosen needs to prove they can replicate the system that welfare uses to interface with healthcare.gov.

The state has set aside $1 million for the project, much smaller than the $75 million contract awarded to Xerox the first time Nevada attempted to create its own system. About $12 million was paid on that contract before the state fired Xerox in 2014.

"It's not 2014 anymore," Korbulic said. "In 2014, all of these states were developing brand new technology to essentially do the same thing."

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