Enrique Martinez-Vidal, Vice President at AcademyHealth and Director of the State Coverage Initiatives program, was appointed today by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley as a board member charged with overseeing Maryland’s Health Benefit Exchange. Other appointees include Georges Benjamin, M.D., Executive Director of the American Public Health Association; Lisa Dubay, Ph.D., Urban Institute Senior Fellow; Darrell Gaskin, Ph.D., Associate Professor and a Health Economist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Jennifer Goldberg, J.D., LL.M., Assistant Director of Advocacy for Health Care at the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau; and Thomas Saquella, M.A., former President of the Maryland Retailers Association. The remaining three board members are the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the Commissioner of the Maryland Insurance Administration, and the Executive Director of the Maryland Health Care Commission.
On April 12, Maryland enacted legislation establishing the exchange as an independent unit of state government. The legislation includes provisions that promote transparency, accountability, and flexibility, and establishes the exchange board. Following California, Maryland is the second state, post-ACA enactment, to appoint an active board for its exchange.
