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Maryland Health Care and Insurance Access
The Maryland House of Delegates voted today on House Bill 754, The Children and Working Families Health Care Act, which provides for expanded access to health care in the state. The bill would expand Medicaid eligibility for more than 100,000 Marylanders who are without health insurance. It includes measures of House Bill 288, the Healthy Maryland Initiative, of which AARP is a lead proponent, most notably a $1 increase in the state tobacco tax.
AARP Maryland State Director Joseph DeMattos, Jr. said, "AARP commends the delegates who voted to expand health care for many of the 800,000 of our neighbors currently struggling without potentially life-saving care. In expanding coverage, we also reduce the stranded costs for emergency room visits by the uninsured, which under the present system get passed along to us all in the form of higher health care costs."
DeMattos said, "We are disappointed with those who voted against this bill. AARP members are deeply concerned about health care. Seven out of ten voters age 50-plus polled just before last fall's general election said it was extremely or very important for the State of Maryland to expand health care to the uninsured."
AARP is a lead proponent of the Healthy Maryland Initiative (House Bill 288), which funds health care expansion by raising the tobacco tax by $1 per pack, and worked to ensure that any health care reform passed by the House included its key elements. AARP strongly supports HB 754 because it will expand Medicaid eligibility up to 116 percent of poverty, extend MCHP to any child without health insurance, save the lives of 18,000 Maryland kids who won't take up smoking, and reduce our nearly billion dollar bill for uncompensated care.
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