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As all of you know, under the leadership of Governor Martin O'Malley we all worked together to pass the Governor's Working Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act of 2007.  This landmark piece of legislation took effect on July 1, 2008 and over 100,000 Marylanders will have access to Medicaid from the expanded eligibility.  To date, over 31,000 of our fellow residents have enrolled in this fantastic newly expanded program.  Unfortunately, due to the current economic situation, the roll out of the new program to childless adults beginning July 1 of 2009 has been shelved for the time.  In times like these with residents across the state losing their jobs, this is exactly the time a program as critical as Medicaid cannot afford to be cut.  Now that the Federal Government has passed the stimulus package, this is the best time to restore those cuts to childless adults and proceed with the Medicaid program as planned.  You all worked to so hard to make sure we expanded the Medicaid program, taking Maryland from 44th in the nation to 21st, and we need to fully implement this important program.  Maryland is already seeing a sharp increase in residents who desperately need these services through no fault of their own.  Without these programs, working folks across the state will once again have far fewer or NO choices to ensure quality care for themselves.