ANNAPOLIS, MD — A group tasked with implementing federal health reform in Maryland is recommending that insurance agents and brokers continue to sell small-group health insurance when health exchanges begin operating in the state.
Former Maryland Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler, who left the Maryland Insurance Administration in January 2010, now has left his position as chief counsel of the U.S Food and Drug Administration.
Beth Sammis, the acting Maryland insurance commissioner for nearly 18 months, ending in June, has taken a job at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, one of the health insurance companies she regulated.
The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) announced changes to the state’s health insurance rate review process after a study advised it needed more transparency and better access for consumers.
The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) should make itself more transparent to consumers, and also should give brokers better access to information, said consulting firm officials in a public hearing June 23.
Beth Sammis, who last week was not appointed as insurance commissioner in Maryland, will remain at the Maryland Insurance Administration as a deputy commissioner.
A firestorm is brewing as leaders of the Catholic Church in the U.S. react to a decision by the Obama Administration that there will be no exemption for church-owned hospitals, universities, social service organizations, homeless shelters and soup kitchens from certain provisions in the new federal health insurance law.