The board of directors of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange has decided to replace the technology behind the state's glitch-ridden health insurance exchange, according to a report from The Washington Post.
The exchange's directors plan to adopt technology from Deloitte Consulting, which Connecticut successfully used for its Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchange, according to the report. The current Maryland exchange site crashed soon after it launched last fall and has performed poorly since: As of last Friday, only 49,293 people had enrolled in private health plans through the exchange, far short of the 150,000 people Maryland had hoped to sign up, according to the report.
Reps. Andy Harris (R-Md.), MD, and Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) have written to HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson requesting an investigation into the "the flagrant waste and abuse of taxpayer monies" that funded Maryland's health insurance exchange. According to the letter, the site has "serious IT defects," and state officials are considering scrapping it once the initial open enrollment period ends on March 31. Because of the technical issues, Mr. Harris and Mr. Kingston write the overall cost of Maryland's online insurance marketplace is expected to reach $261 million this year, with all but $47 million of that amount coming from the federal government.
Last month, Mr. Harris told The Baltimore Sun OIG officials had contacted him and said they will review the creation of the state's exchange.
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