Copyright 2000 The Baltimore Sun Company
THE
BALTIMORE SUN
February 10, 2000, Thursday ,FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL ,1B
LENGTH:
547 words
HEADLINE: Larger health plan
sought; Bill would expand state-subsidized insurance program; 19,000 children
added; Ceiling on income for eligibility would be raised
BYLINE: Thomas W. Waldron
SOURCE: SUN STAFF
BODY:
Moving to reduce the ranks of uninsured Marylanders, the
Glendening administration is asking the legislature to provide state-subsidized
health coverage to more than 19,000 children in working
families.
The proposal, backed by House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. and
Senate leaders, seeks to build on a 2-year-old program that insures 63,000
children and pregnant women.
Under the legislation considered by the
Senate Finance Committee yesterday, the state would extend coverage beginning in
July 2001 to thousands of families earning between $33,000 and
$50,000 -- at an annual cost to the state of about
$7 million. If the General Assembly goes along with the
proposal, as is expected, Maryland would join New Jersey and Connecticut in
covering children in families earning that much.
In a new wrinkle for
Maryland, the measure would allow the state to pay a worker's share of the
premiums for employer-provided insurance -- something only three other states
do. That provision is designed to take advantage of existing private insurance
offerings, although it is not clear how many companies would want to take part
in such a cost-sharing arrangement.
Everyone enrolled in the Children
and Families Health Care Program is covered by managed care organizations that
contract directly with the state.
Under the bill, thousands of families
newly enrolled in the program would pay premiums ranging from
$37 to $46 per month, which would bring in
about $10 million.
Lawmakers and administration
officials were confident the Assembly would embrace the health care expansion,
although tinkering with the proposal is likely.
"There's overwhelming
support for expanding coverage to children, " said Debbie I. Chang, deputy
health secretary. "It's just a question of how to do it."
About 840,000
Marylanders are uninsured, according to advocates involved in the issue. Both
Taylor and Glendening have made reducing that number a priority this year.
"It means 19,000 more Maryland children will have basic day-to-day
health care," said Glendening spokesman Michael Morrill. The proposed expansion
would cost about $30 million a year.
The federal
government would provide about $13 million, with the state
contributing $7 million. The rest would come from premiums paid
by the families covered.
The state took advantage of federal funding two
years ago to launch the insurance program. Families with incomes of as much as
twice the federal poverty level are currently eligible to have their children
insured. That would be a $33,000 income standard for a family
of four. The bill would boost that eligibility standard to three times the
poverty level, or nearly $50,000.
The only significant
opposition to the bill yesterday came from anti-abortion advocates, who said
expanding coverage of pregnant women would lead to more state-funded abortions.
Richard Dowling, lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference, said,
"It the bill is a vehicle that would greatly increase abortions."
Morrill, the Glendening spokesman, said the governor was confident the
legislature would not change the state's policy, which allows state funding of
abortions needed to protect a woman's physical or mental health.
LOAD-DATE: February 11, 2000
