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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Measure Would Create Funding Stream For Exchange And Expand Medicaid

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and state health officials on Wednesday outlined some of the final steps in a three-year effort to create a health benefit exchange in Maryland as part of the federal health care overhaul.

Brown, who has been working on health care legislation for Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration, testified on a bill to create a funding source to pay for the state’s health benefit exchange. The exchange is a new insurance market that will offer residents a choice of private health plans. The measure would pay for it by using money from an existing 2 percent tax on insurance plans that are state regulated.

The measure also includes an expansion of Medicaid to give more poor people access to government care. The federal health care law gives states the option to accept the expansion, refuse it, or postpone a decision. The federal government will pay the entire cost of the expansion in the first three years and 90 percent after that. 

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"The federal government will pay the entire cost of the expansion in the first three years and 90 percent after that. " --- Trust me, you don't want the little guy to succeed O'Malley into the Governor's seat. Doesn't he realize that neither the Federal or State governments have money of their own? This is additional money from US (read you & I). Brown thinks like Ireton. It's always nearly or totally free yet they continually raise taxes.