Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Maryland Health Care Exchange

One of the largest financial fiascos to hit the State in years is the Maryland Health Care Exchange. After spending $150 million on a computer system that didn't work, wrangling more money out of the legislature to cover those individuals who were not able to sign up before the deadline and increasing the number of personnel in the call center from 100 to 400; the entire system will be scrapped. With less than a week in the Session, Governor O'Malley announced that Maryland will be transitioning to the Connecticut system. The cost? No one knows for certain, but an emergency contract for $50 million has been approved to pay the contractor that will handle the transition.

Why the disaster? It started with Governor O'Malley's rush to make Maryland the first state in the nation to implement Obamacare and ended with Lt. Governor Brown's failure to properly oversee the construction and implementation of the exchange. Even more outrageous has been the Administration's complete lack of accountability for the screw-ups, and Democratic leadership circling the wagons to protect Lt. Governor Brown from the political fallout.

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