Politics & Government
State May Scrap Maryland Health Care Exchange Website
State will use a new provider for its health insurance plan going forward.
Since Maryland's health care exchange website has been plagued by problems, lawmakers will discuss whether to adopt a new model.
Open enrollment for the Maryland health care exchange ends at midnight.
On Tuesday, the Maryland Health Benefits Exchange Board will vote on a new platform for the state's health insurance, The Washington Post reported.
It will be built by Deloitte, which Gov. Martin O'Malley said did not initially bid on the Maryland health care exchange proposal, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Maryland's rate of health care enrollment is 9 percent of the pool of potential enrollees, compared with the national average of 15 percent, according to The Washington Post, which reported Connecticut had enrolled more than 26 percent of its potential enrollees.
Exchanges in Connecticut, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Washington have all had among the highest rates of participation, and all were designed by Deloitte, according to Pew.
After the Maryland health care exchange site crashed on the first day and went through a host of technical issues, Maryland fired Noridian, the contractor that designed the website, and the head of the exchange resigned.
The state decided to stick with its current exchange until the open enrollment period ends on March 31. The next enrollment period begins Nov. 15.
The CEO of Connecticut's health care exchange said states interested in adopting its model would need to act quickly.
"They’d have to make a decision in the next few days,” Kevin Counihan, CEO of Access Health CT, told The Connecticut News Project on Friday.
Related: Feds to Investigate Maryland Health Care Exchange Problems
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