Obamacare

Almost half of Marylanders still think the new health care law will have a positive impact on the quality of health care in Maryland, a new Goucher poll found. But only half of those surveyed said they had heard of the website MarylandHealthConnection.gov, the state’s access portal for health insurance.

The respondents also believed the insurance companies were the most prepared to handle the implementation of the health insurance reform and the federal government was the least prepared.

State officials have been talking a lot about the high number of uninsured Marylanders who will have access to Obamacare, but not all are eligible to sign up.
Of the state’s estimated 750,000 to 800,000 uninsured residents, only 480,500 — or roughly 60% — are eligible to enroll for health insurance plans under President Obama’s signature health care law, according to the federal health care website HealthCare.gov.

One of Maryland’s six health care groups contracted to enroll Marylanders in Obamacare health insurance plans has found a way around computer glitches the state has been experiencing since the health insurance exchange opened Oct. 1 — they’re going back to paper.

Healthy Howard, which services residents of six Western Maryland counties, has only been able to complete enrollment on the computer system for five people since the exchange opened. After being open one week, the state had enrolled only 326 people through its site.