Health insurance When Moving to Nevada
Nevada continues to grow more and more with many people moving here from other states. One commonly forgotten item is whether or not their health insurance will cross state lines.
Most insurance companies that offer health plans to individuals do not have a national network. A good example is Kaiser in California. If you have this health insurance when moving to Nevada, you will not have any doctors that are covered in the state.
Although moving to a new state is considered a qualifying life event. It is important to review your options as soon as possible since you have a certain amount of days to apply for coverage before your life event runs out.
The Moving Qualifying Life Event
Here are some examples of how a change in residence allows you to enroll in health insurance mid-year:
Generally, a change in zip code or county will only work if there are new options available in your area. If you are just moving across town or from Reno to Carson City, that does not qualify you to change health plans or enroll in health insurance since the options are the same for those counties. In fact, the choices are the same for most of Northern Nevada so moving around this area would not work for a qualifying life event.
What Is Needed to Prove a Life Event?
You will also need to show proof that you moved. Here are some examples of ways you can prove your qualifying life event for the purpose of getting health insurance when moving to Nevada.
- Scan or image of prior state’s driver’s license
- Scan or image of new Nevada driver’s license
- Application for a Nevada driver’s license
- Closing documents on a new home or lease agreement in Nevada
- New utility bills for new home in Nevada
- Utility bills from prior address
You will need 1 item from your prior address and 1 item from your new address in Nevada.
Timing
You have 60 days for the day of your move to apply for health insurance. If you go beyond those 60 days, you will most likely have to wait until the next open enrollment period to sign up for health insurance.
Fortunately, you do not need to prove your qualifying life event before you apply. You will actually have an additional 30 days from the application to apply for coverage. So, if you are right on the deadline and you know you will be able to prove your life event, it is best to just apply first and work out the details of proving your life event later on.
How to Shop Different Health Plans
Moving to a new state means there will be new insurance companies, doctor lists, and plan options. It can be a lot to take in. As a health insurance broker, we can shop for every plan available and explain the benefits to you for no charge. We do not charge fees and there is no added amount to your premium. We will also help ensure that you do not miss your window to enroll.
One way to do this is to go on to our individual and family health insurance page: https://healthbenefits.net/major-medical-insurance/
There, you can enter some basic info about yourself to generate prices based on your age and zip code.
In the past, Nevada has had a 90 day waiting period for an individual to enroll without a qualifying life event. Unfortunately, this rule went away in 2019. Now the only time to purchase a health insurance Nevada plan will be if you have a qualifying life event or if it is the annual open enrollment at the end of the year. This means that you could have a substantial gap in coverage if you do not enroll within 60 days.
Please do not hesitate to give us a call so we can help you enroll in coverage: 775-828-1216.
