On Wednesday, the Senate passed an emergency bill that would let people who couldn’t get private health insurance through the state’s online exchange buy coverage from the Maryland Health Insurance Plan (MHIP), the state’s program for high-risk patients.
“We put this provision in place as a safety net for those folks who weren’t able to enroll there,” Senator Mac Middleton said. “And if they still can’t get into the exchange this will be available to them.” Middleton says these plans will be more expensive than private plans. The pricier plans are meant to hold people over until they can buy more permanent insurance.
Seven Republicans voted against the measure. Minority Whip Joe Getty, who also originally opposed the exchange, says the website should be fixed instead of instituting stopgap measures. “We need to understand what’s going wrong with this process before we move forward with new things,” he said.
The governor’s signature is all that’s left to make the bill law. That could come as early as tomorrow.
