Emergency health care bill ‘just another Band-Aid’

A proposal to create bridge for people who thought they signed up for health insurance through a state website is not getting rave reviews from some Republicans.

“I think it’s just another Band-Aid on our very disastrous rollout of our Maryland Health benefit exchange,” Del. Susan Krebs, R-Carroll and a member of the House Health and Government Operations Committee, told ABC 2 News. “And it’s just going to keep popping up, problem after problem, and we’ve got to find the underlying problem.

State officials say the measure is needed to provide a safety net for residents who attempted to sign up for insurance using MarylandHealthConnection.gov but found those attempts failed through no fault of their own. It is unknown exactly how many people are affected. State officials say a best estimate falls between “a few hundred” to as many as 5,000—give or take.

On Thursday, Del. Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio issued an statement saying the proposal by Gov. Martin J. O’Malley and Anthony G. Brown was “ill-conceived emergency legislation merely shuffles people from the failing state-run Obamacare exchange into another state-run insurance program for a limited amount of time.”

Haddaway-Riccio is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Harford County Republican County Executive David R. Craig.

Related:

 

• Legislature moves fast to rescue failed health-site registrants