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Md. Launches New State Health Care Website

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's time for Marylanders to sign up for affordable health care. Maryland Health Connection is open for business.

As Pat Warren reports, the newly revamped website is up and running.

It's with peace of mind that Maryland launches its brand new website.

"It's totally rebuilt. The last year system we had to pretty much throw out," said Maryland Health Secretary Dr. Joshua Sharfstein.

Remember the past year? The website crashed, glitched and froze people out.

"And then when they said they could fix it, were incapable of fixing it," one angry user mailed Gov. Martin O'Malley.

So there was only one solution...

"So we moved to Connecticut," the angry user wrote.

"You won't see anything the same. It's totally different," said Sharfstein.

Sharfstein tells WJZ that unlike the previous rollout, these opening days of registration have seen no troubling hiccups and if you enrolled before this month, you should be sure to go back again.

"Some of the plans dropped their rates quite a bit this year. There's a new company, Cigna, in the market this year. It just makes a whole lot of sense," Sharfstein said. "And I know that last year was enormously frustrating for everyone really, but this is a totally different system and seeing is believing. The system really does work a lot better."

It's also important to make sure your financial assistance gets renewed because it's updated every year.

Open enrollment ends on Feb. 15.

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