Annapolis, Md.– In a one two punch, Governor Larry Hogan is helping his GOP allies in Washington to undermine the Affordable Care Act. First he appointed a critic of health care to his health care commission; then he approved a steep last-minute increase in insurance premiums — the result of President Trump’s refusal to make cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments. Now Hogan is blaming the Affordable Care Act itself for rising insurance premiums, instead of his own lack of leadership.
Misleading Marylanders, the Governor said in a recent podcast: “Some people would say we have to just keep Obamacare exactly the way it is… but they don’t realize that there were some bad things that actually need to be fixed, like costs are out of control. We just had 68% increases in costs here in Maryland.”
In the most recent round of rate increases in late August, no insurer in Maryland requested a rate increase as high as Governor Hogan claimed. This week, however, due to President Trump’s sabotage, the Hogan Administration approved an amended increase for CareFirst—Maryland’s largest insurer—of 58 percent for HMO plans and 76 percent for PPO plans.
Earlier this month, after President Trump signed an executive order to destabilize the healthcare market and allow insurance companies to sell insurance plans with inadequate coverage, Hogan-appointed Chair of the Maryland Health Care Commission and ACA critic Robert Moffitt celebrated the move.
“Instead of fighting to protect Marylanders’ access to affordable care, Governor Hogan has surrounded himself with advisors who want to scuttle healthcare coverage, and he is passing the bill on to consumers,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Matthews. “Just like his Washington Republican allies, he is raising rates and endangering lives. It is time for Governor Hogan to come clean with Marylanders and lay out his position on the Affordable Care Act and present his plan to stabilize insurance markets in Maryland.”