Lawsuit Filed Against Nevada Health Exchange Days After Deadline

A first-class lawsuit has been filed against the state of Nevada, Xerox, and the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange—which runs Nevada Health Link, Nevada’s health exchange—just days after the deadline to enroll for insurance coverage passed.

The law firm Callister & Associates filed the lawsuit, which alleges gross negligence and failure to do due diligence, on behalf of two local Nevadans who said that, despite signing up for coverage as far back as four months ago and paying premiums, have since been denied coverage.

Two Nevadans have filed suit after going without coverage
despite paying premiums.
Image: Shutterstock

Larry Basich, one of the plaintiffs, signed up for insurance and paid premiums since November. When he had a heart attack Dec. 31, he was shocked when he was billed $400,000 in medical expenses and his provider said he wasn’t covered.

“I could not eat or sleep for 10 days,” Basich told local Las Vegas news station 13 Action News. “I was not able to get into my bed until two weeks ago.”

The other plaintiff, Lea Swartley, is an expectant mother who was due to give birth Tuesday night. Swartley, like Basich, signed up for coverage and paid premiums, yet has gone without coverage.

Though only Basic and Swartley are taking legal action against the state, local attorney Matthew Callister told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that about 40 people called him with the same issue. And the lawsuit could grow even bigger, with a “pends” list of 10,500 people without coverage, according to a list on the Nevada Health Link website.

The bid, according to Callister, “has nothing to do with the ACA [Affordable Care Act]. This is one hundred percent about Xerox.” Xerox, one of four companies who bid to build Nevada’s state exchange, won the bid after receiving the highest-score on a state criteria list ranging from financial stability to comparable contract experience, according to CBS Las Vegas.

“They’ve failed,” said Callister. “They absolutely failed.”