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.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As you know, the US Congress has just passed and President Obama has signed into law the new economic stimulus legislation that includes over $1 billion for Maryland's Medicaid program over the next three years. I am writing to strongly urge you use this money to fully fund the non-parental Medicaid expansion that was part of the life-saving Governor's Working Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act of 2009.

Since this law went into effect for parents on July 1, 2008, over 30,000 lower-income people have secured quality health care coverage. You can be very proud of this. Since the new federal stimulus money is significantly more than you estimated in the proposed 2010 budget, I believe it would be sound budget policy for you to, "keep the promise," and use some of this money to fund the non-parental Medicaid expansion, which is set to take effect on July 1, 2009.

I know you agree that in these tough economic times it is especially important that we make sure that as many lower-income Marylanders as possible, who are hurt the most by the downturn, have the health care coverage they need. All of us suffer economically when this does not happen because we all pay for the hospitalization of the uninsured.

A recent Gonzales poll shows the people of Maryland understand this. That is why 64% of them do not want the health care created by the Working Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act to be delayed or cut back. I am ready to do whatever it takes and to work with you to make sure that we protect the health care expansion that your leadership made happen in 2007.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 20, 2009