Gov. Brian Sandoval miffed with Anthem leaving Nevada

Gov. Brian Sandoval on Tuesday made it clear he was a bit more than just disappointed by Anthem’s decision to effectively pull out of the Nevada insurance market.

“They did receive extra points,” to be one of Nevada’s Medicaid providers on the state health insurance exchange, he said.

The company announced Monday it was basically pulling out altogether.

“I wish I had known that in the beginning,” said Sandoval.

He made the comment in response to a question about Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s charge Anthem bailed out on Nevada after receiving preferential treatment to be one of Nevada’s Medicaid providers.

She said Anthem “has decided to break its commitment to Nevada, leaving thousands of Nevadans with disrupted health care services.”

Asked whether he was in contact with Anthem officials following the announcement he said, “my door is always open but my indication and impression is they’ve made the absolute decision to leave the state.”

Anthem announced in June it was pulling out of serving 14 Nevada counties but would continue to provide qualified health plans through the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange in Clark, Washoe and Nye counties. But, in order to stay, the company said it would raise rates in those counties by some 62 percent.

With the decision to leave Nevada, the only insurance plans Anthem will offer in the state are catastrophic plans for people age 30 and younger.

Nevada’s health exchange does, however, still have two companies offering health insurance plans in Washoe and Clark counties: Summit Health Plan and Health Plan of Nevada. Sandoval said he has been in contact with at least one of those companies to try to ensure they too don’t leave the state and, possibly, would consider expanding services to Nevada’s rural counties.