//February 24, 2014
Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown is coming under fire from political rivals for his role in the state’s defective health benefit exchange website.
Del. Jolene Ivey, D-Prince George’s, issued a statement Monday afternoon just hours after the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange announced it had terminated its relationship with Fargo, N.D-based Noridian Healthcare Solutions.
Ivey called the termination of the website’s primary contractor “long overdue” and then turned her sights on Brown.
Ivey, in an emailed statement, said the firing “really begs the question, ‘where is Anthony Brown?’ He missed today’s oversight committee hearing—for the second straight time—and he hasn’t said why Maryland hired an out-of-state contractor, or why Maryland gave this vendor a second contract at a closed-door meeting, or why it’s taken nearly five months to fire them.”
Ivey’s statement was issued as the Joint Oversight Committee on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange met for its second briefing since being formed earlier this month.
Ivey is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate and current Attorney General Douglas Gansler.
Gansler and Brown are both seeking the Democratic nomination in the June primary.
“Lt. Gov. Brown still owes Marylanders many answers about his failed leadership and his own role in hurting Marylanders who need health insurance and can’t get it. Lt. Governor Brown has spent more time pointing fingers than finding solutions, which tells you plenty about what type of governor he’d be.”
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