
When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act of 2010, it gave states until January 2014 to expand their health safety nets and get new insurance exchanges up and running. Now as the states await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the act--also known as Obamacare--they confront political uncertainty and growing pressures on their health systems. We explore the different paths taken by Virginia and Maryland, and examine whether innovations at the state level will lower costs for consumers.

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