This is push week ladies and gentlemen!!!  We gave all candidates running for state office until Friday to sign on to our Healthy Maryland Initiative -- the $1 per pack tobacco tax for health care expansion.   To date, over 150 candidates from across the state have signed on.  Some haven't signed on yet, though.  That's where you come in. 

Regardless of whether they have signed on or not, we need you to chime in to your current electeds on the need for this first BIG STEP forward.  Next year, while we've got a bunch of newbies in office, let's get the Healthy Maryland Initiative passed.  Then... let's get the whole deal done sooner rather than later, eh?

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Just a few weeks ago, you received a packet of information about the Healthy Maryland Initiative -- the $1 tobacco tax proposal for health care expansion. It would reduce the number of teen smokers by 50,000 and increase the number of those with insurance by 50,000.

I'm writing to urge you sign on to the resolution (if you haven't done so already).

We need solutions to our health care crisis and the Healthy Maryland Initiative will bring us one step closer to health care for all.

I care about health care and I vote!!! Please let me know if you plan on endorsing the Resolution ASAP.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
August 21, 2006

Over the past number of years, our Health Care for All! Coalition has successfully enacted parts of our Health Care for All! Plan (click here).  We've made progress towards getting seniors and the uninsured access to more affordable prescription drugs.  We passed the Fair Share Health Care law to make sure that big companies do their part to keep health insurance affordable for everyone.  And we worked to guarantee physicians more fair pay for treating Medicaid patients.

Health Care Expansion

Now it's time to focus energy on educating our lawmakers about the urgent need for health care expansion.  Census Bureau reports show that the number of uninsured grew in Maryland again in 2005.  We now have 810,000 uninsured and 800,000 underinsured neighbors.  

Every time a Marylander loses her/his insurance coverage, we all feel the pain.  Not only do the uninsured get sicker and run up high medical debt, those of us with insurance pay for their emergency room bills in the form of higher premiums, higher deductibles, and higher costs for goods and services.  

So, we need your help.  Please support this initiative to enact another part of our overall Health Care for All! Plan, to help people get the care they need, and to help keep quality insurance available for ALL of us.

For more information on the Healthy Maryland Initiative, visit http://www.healthcareforall.com and click on "Tobacco Tax for Health Care" on the left hand menu.