Thank you for your recent article on a study of Medicaid the New England Journal of Medicine that addressed the role of Medicaid in promoting mental health and protecting families from financial ruin (“Study: Medicaid has mixed record in improving health,” May 2).

Maryland was among the first states to commit to full expansion of Medicaid under health reform, and we can (and should) learn a lot from the results of this study. Nearly 200,000 people are expected to gain coverage through the program starting Jan. 1, 2014, and we can expect that these people will also benefit from improved mental health and protection from financial ruin like those in the study.

Maryland differs from the environment described in the study with regard to our state’s efforts to strengthen the Medicaid program and prepare for rapid enrollment. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown’s Health Enterprise Zones Initiative, Patient-Centered Medical Homes and the Maryland Hospital Association’s unique approach to reducing hospital readmissions are all Maryland-specific features of our health care system that point to better outcomes for our state residents compared to those in the study. These individual efforts contribute to a stronger health care system for all of us — private and public sector alike — to ensure that patients easily get the care they need to improve health outcomes and reduce waste.

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March 27, 2013

We at the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative are thrilled that the O’Malley/Brown Administration continues to make our state the lead state in the nation implementing the Affordable Care Act.  As with the previous two years we are once again the envy of state’s across the nation with this year’s bill, the Maryland Health Progress Act of 2013 (SB 274/HB 228).

This bill completes a three year process to ensure that hundreds of thousands of Marylanders that formally had little to no access to quality, affordable health care now have options that have never existed before.  The bill promotes transparency, non-discrimination, and fiscal responsibility that will help create a robust marketplace and provide feasible options for many Marylanders left out in the cold.  This legislation also makes sure that we continue the progress of 2007 that expanded Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens.

Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative President, Vinny DeMarco comments, “We thank the Administration for continuing to push forward with legislation that will make sure we all have opportunities to provide coverage for our families.  We cannot thank the Maryland General Assembly enough for moving forward with this life saving law.  We appreciate our legislators in Annapolis for standing with Maryland’s children, mothers, and fathers to pass this critical piece of legislation.”

Health Care for All! Deputy Director, Matthew Celentano adds, “We are so excited that Maryland continues to make strides toward our shared goal of quality, affordable health care for all Marylanders.  Today’s action by the Maryland General Assembly is another step in that direction.”

The Health Care for All! Coalition is a broad-based coalition of over 1200 faith, labor, business and community groups that have been working to guarantee all Marylanders access to quality, affordable health care.  To learn more, visit http://www.healthcareforall.com

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]]> http://healthcareforall.com/2013/03/maryland-health-progress-act-passes-maryland-house-and-senate/feed/ 0 http://healthcareforall.com/2013/03/maryland-takes-the-lead-on-health-reform/ http://healthcareforall.com/2013/03/maryland-takes-the-lead-on-health-reform/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:09:02 +0000 Suzanne Schlattman http://healthcareforall.com/?p=1842

New America Media, Video, Video by Min Lee, Text by Khalil Abdullah, Posted: Mar 24, 2013
Traducción al Español

BALTIMORE — As one of America’s top 10 wealthiest states and one that trends heavily Democratic, Maryland was among the nation’s first to move full throttle to implement the Affordable Care Act.

The decision puts the state well out ahead in expanding access to some 300,000 people who will qualify for free or subsidized health insurance as of 2014, according to Suzanne Schlattman, Deputy Director for Development and Community Outreach, Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc.

“Because we acted so early, we didn’t get weighed down in the political rhetoric that other states got weighed down in,” she said.

At a newsmaker briefing for ethnic media representatives, Schlattman joined Danielle Davis, Director of Communications, Outreach and Training, Maryland Citizens’ Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE), and Leigh Cobb, Health Policy Director, Advocates for Children and Youth, to describe the benefits the law will bring.

First and foremost are those low-income residents who earn up to $15,400 per year (roughly 133% of the federal poverty line) — or a family of four who earn up to $32,000 per year — and will qualify under Medicaid’s expanded eligibility criteria. The covered population includes low-income adults without children, who had previously been excluded by Medicaid’s guidelines.

Another key group of consumers will be eligible to receive federal subsidies to assist in their purchase of health insurance if they have none or if they receive no assistance through their employer.

Altogether, says Schlattman, through the ACA the state will nearly halve its 600,000 to 700,000 who are uninsured in Maryland’s overall population of 5.9 million.

Thanks to a consumer’s bill of rights included in the law, Schlattman says, many residents of the state already have new benefits they haven’t had until the ACA was enacted. Part of the state’s challenge is getting residents to know what those benefits are and how to access them.

So, for example, any new insurance plan issued after ACA was passed on March 23, 2010 cannot deny children benefits because of pre existing health conditions — a benefit that will also apply to adults as of Jan.1 , 2014. Nor can insurers rescind a policy if someone becomes ill.

Consumers also cannot be charged a co-pay by insurers for preventive health care services like vaccinations or cancer screenings. The full menu of what qualifies as a preventive service is determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Task Force.

ACA also put into place an insurance rebate policy called the 80-20 rule. “If insurers spend less than 80 percent of what you pay them in your monthly premiums on your actual health care, they owe you the difference in a rebate,” Schlattman explained. Since August, 2012, some Maryland health policy holders have been receiving an average of $200 to $300 in rebates from their insurance companies.

And perhaps best known of the benefits — young adults can stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26, a year longer than what current Maryland law allows. Now under the ACA, federal employees and the self-insured also will be able to cover their children up to age 26.

Leigh Cobb of Advocates for Children and Youth, pointed out that the law also extends Medicaid coverage to former foster youth up to age 26 with no income restrictions. Thus, beginning in 2014, youth who were enrolled in Medicaid when they aged out of the foster care system will be eligible for health coverage through Medicaid, giving them some parity with those young adults who are currently able to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26.

The ACA provision stipulates that former foster youth who aged out of the system as long ago as 2007 will be eligible for these benefits starting in January—as long as they are still under age 26. Cobb expressed concern, however, that those former foster care youth who have already “aged-out” of foster care may not be aware that he or she can qualify for Medicaid coverage up until age 26. “We really need to reach out to those young adults who don’t know about this program,” Cobb said.

Cobb said another challenge for Maryland is expanding access to oral health care. “Marylanders were initially very excited that pediatric dental care was identified as an ‘essential health benefit’ under the ACA, however, under federal regulations issued by HHS, benefits will not be offered in all qualified health plans, will be priced separately when they are offered, and families will not be required to purchase them”, she said. Since the death of a Prince George’s County 12 year-old six years ago because of an untreated tooth infection, Maryland has become much more focused on the importance of oral health care and has come a long way in making pediatric dental care available through through state programs.

Davis of MHBE, said by ramping up quickly, Maryland qualified for over $157 million in a combination of federal grants that helped fund strategic planning, IT assessment, policy research and recommendations on how to organize and implement an ACA-friendly infrastructure — and a robust engagement of advisory councils representing the state’s business, social, faith-based and health advocacy constituencies.

Maryland Health Benefit Exchange will be open for enrollment as of Oct. 1 — not as an insurance carrier, but as the equivalent of a shopping mall where consumers can shop for and compare the best rates available.

Although people can still purchase insurance through private exchanges, those eligible to receive federal subsidies in purchasing health insurance will have to go through the Exchange. That also applies to small businesses. Schlattman estimates some 66,000 small businesses which employ 50 or fewer employees earning up to 50,000 a year are likely to qualify for a 35 percent tax credit for their insurance plans. That credit will rise to 50 percent in 2014.

Asked by reporters how Maryland’s undocumented immigrants fit into the ACA, panelists said that population would have to continue to rely on fee-based services at federally funded health clinics or emergency rooms. But Maryland, the panelists emphasized, is aggressively devising outreach programs to insure legal immigrant residents can take full advantage of the ACA.

“Health Care Reform and Your Community”: Speakers on the Panel (Left to Right) LEIGH COBB: Health Policy Director, Advocates for Children and Youth; SUZANNE SCHLATTMAN: Deputy Director for Development and Community Outreach, Maryland Citizen’s Health Initiativ Education Fund, Inc; DANIELLE DAVIS: Director of Communications, Outreach and Training. Maryland Health Benefit Exchange

March 19, 2013
India This Week, Express India
By Sam Prasad Jillella

We at the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative are thrilled that the O’Malley Administration continues to make our state the lead dog in the pack implementing the Affordable Care Act. As with the previous two years, we are once again the envy of states across the nation with this year’s bill, the Maryland Health Progress Act of 2013 (SB 274/HB 228).

This bill will help complete a three year process to ensure that hundreds of thousands of Marylanders that formally had little to no access to quality, affordable health care now have options that have never existed before. This bill promotes transparency, non-discrimination and fiscal responsibility that will help create a robust marketplace and provide feasible options for many Marylanders left out in the cold. The legislation also captures very significant funding from the federal government to continue the life-saving Medicaid expansion that Maryland began in 2007, which led to more than 300,000 of our citizens gaining health care coverage.

We cannot thank the administration enough for continuing to push forward with legislation that will make sure we all have opportunities to provide coverage for our families. Now, it is time for the Maryland General Assembly to act. We urge our legislators in Annapolis to stand with Maryland’s children, mothers, and fathers and pass this critical piece of legislation — to continue the progress we have made over the years.

Matthew Celentano, Baltimore

The writer is the Deputy Director of Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative.

Another tax hike on cigarettes and cigars gets kicked around

March 14, 2013 at 12:03 am
By Becca Heller
Becca@MarylandReporter.com

Tobacco lobbyists and anti-smoking advocates went head to head in a high-stakes hearing Wednesday on the legislature’s latest proposal to raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes from $2 to $3. The tax rate on cigars would triple from 30% to 95%.

Sponsored by Sen. Verna Jones-Rodwell, this is the third year the bill to raise cigarette and tobacco taxes has been filed in both chambers of the General Assembly. Though legislators haven’t had success in passing it yet, Maryland’s not-so-distant past reflects a spate of tobacco tax increases.

“We have made tremendous progress over the past decade in reducing the smoking of cigarettes, with cigarette smoking dropping by 32 percent in this time (double the national average), as a result of three increases in the state tax on cigarettes over the past decade,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative.

Bill would reduce smoking, raise $100 million

Proponents of the bill presented an arsenal of arguments in support of the tax, including health statistics, economic points, and testimony from teens.

“Many students that spend hours working to save up for their very first car to make sure to take a few dollars of their paycheck to feed their cigarette habit,” said Devan Ogburn, a sophomore at Leonardtown high school and president of the Maryland Association of Student Councils. “If you raise the already high prices of tobacco products, many youth will realize that the habit isn’t worth the empty wallet.”

According to Health Care for All, the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative, not only have prior tobacco taxes prevented over 200,000 Marylanders from smoking regularly, but they have also helped fund health care for over 300,000 Marylanders.

The bill in question, they argue, would raise about $100 million in additional revenue.

Opponents: Bill punishes adults buying legal products

Opponents to the bill came out swinging.

“This bill is about taxing adults. The argument is about children and cost and it’s really overplayed,” said Bruce Bereano, representing the Maryland Association of Tobacco and Candy Distributors. “Whether you like it or not, the use and possession of tobacco products by adults is legal. Let’s put a bill in the legislature and make it illegal to smoke or possess tobacco. Don’t hassle them by taxing them.”

Bereano also accused proponents of the bill of exaggerating the extent to which tobacco companies targeted teens and children.

Buyers could go to Virginia for much cheaper cigarettes

Other arguments countering the bill suggested that, rather than deterring smokers, the initiative would simply encourage cross-state sales and open up the state market to contraband tobacco.

Dan Doherty, the lobbyist for the Cigar Association of America, said that the difference between taxes for a carton of cigarettes in Maryland and Virginia is currently $34, but will jump to $54 under the bill.

“Why wouldn’t people go into Virginia to stock up and then come back to Maryland?” Doherty asked.

Statistics from a poll conducted for Health Care For All, however, suggest that while some may oppose the tax, nearly three quarters of Marylanders support the initiative.

“Maryland has been a national leader in reducing addiction to cigarettes, especially among teens,” said DeMarco. “Now, let’s build on this progress by enacting another life saving one dollar per pack cigarette tax increase, continuing the tremendous public health progress Maryland has made.”

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Cigarette Tax will Help Budget and Save Lives
Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute Blog
March 13, 2013

5900 Metro Drive
Seton Business Park
Baltimore, MD 21215

Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to Anthony Advincula aadvincula@newamericamedia.org or (646)842-7062. (Click on the image to view the full flyer.)

Health Ambassadors receive 2-4 hours of training and give brief presentations on the Affordable Care Act at congregations in their communities to help local residents take advantage of the law.

Anyone can be a Health Ambassador! If you enjoy helping people, public speaking and/or helping your brothers and sisters be happy and healthy, please join us for the next training on:

**The next training will be posted soon!** Please call if you’re interested in hosting or attending a training.

When: Saturday February 16th at 10:00AM

Where: Frederick Memorial Hospital, 400 West 7th Street, Frederick, MD (Classrooms 1 & 2)

Please RSVP as seating is limited:  hundleykr at gmail dot com or call 301 694-3355