Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Loss of Obamacare would cause chaos, Nevada official says

The health care system could be “thrown into chaos” with “huge economic impacts” if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare, the program administrator in Nevada said.

Medical providers could lose reimbursements for services, and rural hospitals could struggle as payers for care become scarcer, said Heather Korbulic, executive director of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, which runs the Nevada Health Link online insurance marketplace.

“All of us have gotten very accustomed to functioning in a post-Affordable Care Act world,” Korbulic said today as the Supreme Court heard arguments on the fate of Obamacare.

The court, however, seemed likely to leave in place the bulk of the Affordable Care Act, including key protections for pre-existing conditions and subsidized insurance premiums that affect tens of millions of Americans.

In Nevada, 77,000 people have made use of the state’s health care marketplace and 262,000 have made use of the Medicaid expansion allowed under the act, Korbulic said.

The open enrollment period for the state’s marketplace runs until Jan. 15, and Korbulic said there’s “no more important of a time” to be insured.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.