Sadly, 90,000 children who are eligible for Medicaid or the Maryland Children's Health Program (MCHIP) remain unenrolled and without health insurance.  This represents more than ten percent of Maryland's uninsured population and almost two-thirds of our uninsured children.  As the wealthiest state in the nation, there is no excuse for nearly ten percent of our children to remain uninsured.  Currently there are three bills being taken under consideration in the Maryland General Assembly that would help correct this problem. 

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing you today to ask for your support on three very important bills being considered in the 2008 Maryland General Assembly Session. All three bills are sponsored by Delegate Heather Mizeur and are critical to the health of Maryland's children.

We have 90,000 children who are eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, but sadly remain unenrolled and without health insurance. HB 1391, the Kids First Act would require the Comptroller to find these eligible kids and help get them on the path to enrollment, but would also stress family responsibility as families would eventually be required to show proof of health insurance.

HB 1404, the Eliminating Barriers to Enrollment Act, would improve our efforts to ensure children's access to health care by a number of means. First this piece of legislation would establish presumptive eligibility, therefore sick children will receive care quicker instead of being caught up in administrative backlog. The bill also allows 12 months of continuous eligibility, which I believe will help keep kids covered as opposed to the current onerous rules that require families to redetermine their eligibility every six months.

The last of these three very important bills is HB 1406, the Foster Kids Coverage Act. This legislation would provide assistance to independent foster care adolescents by allowing them to remain on the Maryland Medical Assistance Program until they are 21 years old. Foster children are covered on the Maryland Medical Assistance Program until they become adults, but when they leave the foster care system at age 18, they lose their health insurance during this very vulnerable transition. As this population cannot benefit from HB 1057 that was passed last year, this expansion makes great sense as they have simply fallen through the cracks.

I appreciate all of your work through the Session and hope you will fight for these very important pieces of legislation that will make our children healthier.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 04, 2008