Legislators discuss the Affordable Care Act outcomes if repealed

In Annapolis, the Department of Legislative Services started briefing leadership committees in both the House and Senate on the budget.

In a briefing today with the Senate's Budget and Tax Committee, one of the highlights discussed was what the outlook may be if the Affordable Care Act is repealed at the federal level.

According to Senator Addie Eckardt, Maryland could experience anywhere from a billion to several billion dollars of impact depending on what changes happen.

Because of that, Eckardt says legislators have to consider those potential costs when working on the budget.

"If we want our citizens to continue to have access to healthcare then we have to factor that in to the overall budget thinking so that you don't want to raise taxes, you don't want to incur more cost to the average citizen, particularly if you know there may be some changes coming," explains Eckardt.

She says right now it's too soon to tell what will happen with the Affordable Care Act at the federal level, but it's important that the planning process start now.