Maryland’s state healthcare exchange was supposed to be one of the Obamacare success stories. Only, reality has intruded in and crashed Gov. Martin O’Malley’s party. The Baltimore Sun editorializes that the Free State may have to junk its exchange and hand the responsibility back over to the federal government.
Which is hilarious, given how well the federal government is running Healthcare.gov. If O’Malley needs Obama’s management skills to bail him out, well, yikes.
Under those circumstances, [dysfunctional website, pace of enrollments far too slow] the question raised by Rep. John Delaney, a Montgomery County Democrat, about whether it would be better for Maryland to scrap its effort to build its own exchange and instead join the federal one has merit. Indeed, Gov. Martin O’Malley acknowledged on Monday that the option — and all others — remain on the table.
That’s a hard possibility for Governor O’Malley to acknowledge. Under his leadership, Maryland was one of the most aggressive states in the effort to build out its own exchange — a strategic decision that appears in retrospect to have involved no small amount of hubris and political ambition. Walking away now from all that effort and tens of millions in expenditures would be particularly embarrassing.
“Hubris” and “political ambition”? Those are Martin O’Malley’s middle names. He failed up from playing mayor of Baltimore to play governor, so he could eventually play at being president. Rumor has it that his DNA tested 87.6% plastic.
Moe Lane notes that the Sun is a reliable water-carrier for Maryland’s and all other Democrats, and he’s absolutely right. I lived in Maryland for a dozen years. The Sun doesn’t shine on anything but Democrats, ever. Which makes this editorial even more interesting.
So, Marylanders, second look at Bob Ehrlich?
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