Rebecca Pearce, who oversaw the rollout of Maryland’s troubled health-care exchange as its executive director, has resigned.
Pearce is the third person in such a position to leave her job, following Rocky King’s recent extended medical leave from Cover Oregon and Coral Andrews’s departure from Hawai‘i Health Connector. Pearce was hired in 2011 with a salary of $175,000 and had been criticized for taking a vacation in the Cayman Islands during Thanksgiving while the website continued to undergo repairs; she was not checking her e-mail or voicemail while she was on vacation, according to a Maryland Health Benefit Exchange spokeswoman.
Carolyn Quattrocki, who heads the Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform, has been appointed as her interim replacement.
Only 3,758 individuals had enrolled in private plans through Maryland Health Connection by the end of November, less than 3 percent of the 150,000 people the state expected to enroll by March 31. The exchange has suffered from technical problems and infighting between a contractor and subcontractor that resulted in a pair of lawsuits.