Neva­da is gam­bling on the suc­cess of a pub­lic pri­vate part­ner­ship, where the state gov­ern­ment will now com­pete with insur­ance car­ri­ers while using those same insur­ance car­ri­ers to pro­vide a more afford­able health care option for state cit­i­zens.   They fol­low in the foot­steps of Col­orado and Wash­ing­ton, both of which just passed sim­i­lar leg­is­la­tion.  Illi­nois, New Mex­i­co and Ore­gon are con­sid­er­ing the same.

The Neva­da law requires some insur­ers to bid to offer plans start­ing in 2026, with the goal to have these plans priced 5% less than oth­er pop­u­lar plans, and 15% less over four years.  The enforce­ment mech­a­nism has not yet been estab­lished.  The law is intend­ed to achieve low­er costs by pay­ing doc­tors, hos­pi­tals and oth­er providers less than what they are cur­rent­ly being reim­bursed by insur­ers.  This may end up resem­bling some of the “skin­ny net­works” which have already become noto­ri­ous in Cal­i­for­nia and oth­er states.  Not exact­ly a solu­tion, but a start…and we may see more of the same with­in the halls of Con­gress, as the pub­lic option may return there as a com­pro­mise mea­sure to ward of Medicare for All.