ENTIRE State of Nevada Scores Obamacare Waiver

Nevada secures partial waiver from federal health care law

By Karoun Demirjian, The Policy Racket

Monday, May 16, 2011 | 5:08 p.m.

Nevada got a partial waiver from the health care law - a significant development that Democrats are dismissing as par for the course and Republicans are claiming as a political victory.

The Health and Human Services Department announced late Friday that Nevada had secured a statewide waiver from certain implementation requirements of the Obama administration's health care law, because forcing them through, the department found, "may lead to the destabilization of the individual market."

The announcement makes Nevada one of only three states to have compliance requirements under the health care bill waived.

Nevada's Insurance Division had appealed to the feds to reduce the federal requirement that health plans serving people who buy insurance on their own must spend at least 80 percent of the money they collect on medical expenses. Under the national rule, companies that don't spend that percentage of revenue on medical costs have to cut policyholders rebate checks starting this year.