By Baltimore Sun Editorial Board
May 13, 2019
EXCERPT
For the second year in a row, Marylanders who rely on the Obamacare exchange to buy health insurance have a chance to pay lower rates. The initial rate requests from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Kaiser Permanente aren’t quite as dramatic as last year’s across-the-board reductions — prices for some kinds of policies may go up slightly, but the most popular one, CareFirst’s HMO, will decline by nearly 9 percent. That’s a far cry from the death spiral of ever-escalating prices leading to dwindling enrollment and still higher prices other states have seen. It’s a reflection of good policy choices and an ongoing commitment by both the Democratic General Assembly and Republican governor to make the Affordable Care Act work. But with the Trump administration’s continued hostility toward the ACA, the job here is far from done.
Last modified: May 13, 2019
