ANNAPOLIS, Md — The vice chair of the Maryland Senate’s Budget and Taxation Committee says the state’s hospital system could be “thrown into disarray” by the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
Maryland Sen. Richard Madaleno commented after his committee got a briefing from the state’s Department of Legislative Services, a non-partisan office that generates reports on the fiscal impact of government policies.
Madaleno says the analysis showed health care costs in the state could balloon by $2 billion. Madaleno adds analysts told the panel that the cost of trying to keep people in the expanded Medicaid program would cost the state an additional $1.4 billion.
“And it could cause layoffs at the hospitals,” he said. “The study said there are 52,000 jobs at stake because of the Affordable Care Act in Maryland.”