Existing law establishes the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange to facilitate the purchase of subsidized health plans by certain small employers and natural persons who are citizens of the United States or otherwise lawfully present in the United States. (Chapter 695I of NRS) Section 1 of this bill requires the Executive Director of the Exchange, in collaboration with the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Director of the Department of Business and Industry and the Commissioner of Insurance, to: (1) apply for a federal waiver to authorize any natural person to purchase a qualified health plan on the Exchange, regardless of his or her immigration status, if the natural person otherwise qualifies to purchase such a plan on the Exchange; and (2) conduct, or contract with an independent actuary to conduct, an actuarial analysis before applying for the waiver to ensure that such waiver will comply with certain federal requirements. (42 U.S.C. § 18052(b)) Section 2 of this bill makes a conforming change to indicate that the waiver, if approved, would authorize natural persons who are not lawfully present in the United States to purchase qualified health plans. Section 4 of this bill makes an appropriation of $1,000,000 to the Exchange for the costs of the actuarial analysis and other administrative tasks related to applying for and implementing the waiver. Existing law creates the Board of Directors of the Exchange which consists of: (1) five voting members appointed by the Governor; (2) one voting member appointed by the Majority Leader of the Senate; (3) one voting member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly; and (4) three ex officio, nonvoting members. (NRS 695I.300) Section 3 of this bill: (1) requires the Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly to each appoint one additional voting member to the Board; and (2) makes a conforming change to the number of members of the Board who must have certain expertise or experience to reflect the increased number of members of the Board. Section 5 of this bill prescribes the length of the initial terms of the new members added to the Board by section 3 to ensure that the terms of the voting members of the Board are staggered.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 695I.210, 695I.300
BDR: 695I.210, 695I.300