Change Maryland Blasts Lt. Governor Brown For Misleading Marylanders On Healthcare

ANNAPOLIS - Lieutenant Governor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown indicated that he knew some Marylanders would lose their healthcare coverage after the October 1 rollout of Maryland's implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), during an interview with WBAL TV's Jayne Miller. According to reports, 73,000 Maryland residents are expected to lose their healthcare coverage.
"The O'Malley-Brown Administration has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for the ACA and Lt. Governor Brown is responsible for implementing Maryland's version of the law," said Larry Hogan, Chairman of the nonpartisan grassroots organization Change Maryland. "Last night, Anthony Brown admitted that he knew many Marylanders could not keep their insurance despite promises to the contrary. By remaining silent, he intentionally misled thousands of mothers, fathers, and children who depend on health care insurance for the treatment they need."
During the interview, Brown stated he knew that healthcare plans would no longer be available under Maryland's implementation of the ACA. 
"As Lt. Governor, Anthony Brown has an obligation to serve the best interests of all Marylanders, which means being straightforward about the implementation of this new law," Hogan said. "Despite all the promises from the O'Malley-Brown Administration that the state was ready for this roll out, the exchange has been plagued with one problem after another."
Since the start of the exchange on October 1, not only have 73,000 plans been cancelled, but the state has delayed the implementation of the small business exchange to April, 2014 – 4 months after the federally mandated deadline. Additionally, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange has released inflated numbers of enrollment – over-reporting by over 3,000 enrollees. The exchange released a report that 4,651 people had enrolled in a new healthcare plan by October 31, while an official report from the White House indicates that only 1,284 people had enrolled by November 2. 
"Marylanders deserve to know whether or not people are enrolling in the Health Benefit Exchange because ultimately, the success or failure of the program will have a direct impact on their own health insurance," said Hogan. "Brown's failures have given us zero confidence that the state even knows how many people have enrolled. 
"It's time for Mr. Brown to come clean with Marylanders, take responsibility for the problems of the state exchange, and personally apologize for misleading the public. Regardless of how anyone feels about the new law, Anthony Brown obviously put partisan politics ahead of the people he was elected to represent. This falls 100% in his lap," Hogan concluded.