The head of the Massachusetts health connector is stepping down after a tumultuous year in which the state's health care exchange failed and was later rebuilt.Jean Yang’s departure was anticipated as a new Republican governor, Charlie Baker, prepares to take office.
Yang said Tuesday the connector is in a "solid place” as she steps down Jan. 16.
The breakdown of the connector's website marred the transition from Massachusetts’ first-in-the-nation universal healthcare insurance law to the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. It forced hundreds of thousands of people into temporary Medicaid coverage. Yang has been open about the failures.
“I wanted to apologize for all the difficulties, the confusion, the frustration that many people in the state experienced,” Yang said in October. “That was not a good experience. No one was more frustrated than we were and we learned a lot from that experience.”
Maydad Cohen, who oversaw the rollout of a new website, will serve as interim executive director until the Baker administration chooses a successor.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Copyright 2015 WAMC Northeast Public Radio
