Four months after its launch, the Maryland Obamacare website still contains errors and glitches. The high number of website problems have prompted managers to consider shutting down some parts of the website later this year and instead using the federal health exchange to help Maryland residents enroll in the health insurance exchange.
Agency leaders have said that there are "serious IT defects" in the system and frustration that taxpayer money is being used to fund a faulty website.
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has asked for a federal investigation to determine whether the state hired contractors without sufficient experience and whether it will be possible for the feds to get a refund for the huge sums of federal tax dollars spent on the Maryland health exchange website.
Emails obtained by News 4 show that the former executive in charge of the system, Rebecca Pearce, who resigned in an emergency shortly after Thanksgiving (as the website was falling apart), still remained employed "on administrative leave," until Feb. 1.
State officials told Pearce in an email that they kept her employed because they wanted a "smooth transition" for the Maryland healthcare exchange website. She was still being paid her approximately $175,000 salary during the six weeks after her resignation.