Silver Dollars and Wooden Nickels: Health rollout continues to flop

The Nevada Appeal’s Silver Dollars & Wooden Nickels feature recognizes achievements from the capital region and, then warranted, points out other acts that missed the mark.

WOODEN NICKEL: Members of the board that manages the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange said Thursday that if Xerox can’t get its call center and website running properly, the state should choose another company that can effectively manage the system. Earlier this month, state officials lowered the projection for total sign-ups for coverage under the Affordable Care Act by the March 31 deadline from 118,000 to 50,000. To say the rollout of Obamacare has been rocky would be an understatement of epic proportions, but the scary thing is that by all accounts, Nevada’s transition has been smoother than those in other states and at the federal level.

SILVER DOLLAR: Eagle Valley Middle School students and a Carson High School freshman took part in a regional Science Olympiad last week in Reno. Participants design things and are tested on lab procedures, and the local team will be in Las Vegas on March 8 to take part in the state competition. The winner of that event moves on to the national contest May 17-18 in Orlando, Fla. Best of luck to Carson’s team.

WOODEN NICKEL: AAA and GasBuddy.com predict that gasoline is going to become “considerably more expensive” over the next month and a half, rising from an average of $3.299 a gallon nationally now to $3.559 to $3.759 by the end of spring. Harsh winter conditions across much of the nation have increased the demand for gasoline, setting the stage for a larger-than-average spike.

SILVER DOLLAR: We’ve got plenty of arts offerings in Carson City. One thing we don’t have often is a public showing of an international film. We’ll have three such events Feb. 27 through March 1 at First United Methodist Church. It’s a welcome dose of a different type of culture.