More than 77,000 Sign up for Insurance on Nevada Health Site

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s staterun health insurance marketplace reports more than 77,000 people have signed up for coverage next year through the website.

The numbers mark the first time people have signed up through the state’s new online marketplace, Nevada Health Link.

Nevada had been relying for several years on Healthcare.gov, the federal website set up under former President Barack Obama’s health law, to allow people to shop for insurance online. But Nevada officials decided to move this year to a staterun system to save money and better track data.

The online health insurance marketplaces allow people who don’t get insurance through their job to shop for coverage and enroll in a plan.

Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, the agency that runs Nevada’s website, said nearly 66,000 people who had previously signed up for coverage on the federal website were moved to Nevada’s website.

Three insurers — Health Plan of Nevada, SilverSummit and Anthem HMO Co — offered 27 health plans for consumers in Clark, Nye and Washoe counties to choose from. Smaller counties had fewer options.

Open enrollment for 2020 coverage has closed but residents who lose their insurance, get married, have a child or move can become eligible to sign up next year.