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Restore Medicaid Expansion to Childless Adults
Greetings,
Take Ten Seconds to Help
Thousands and Thousands
As all of you know, with the leadership of
Governor Martin O'Malley we helped pass the Governor's Working
Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act of
2007. This legislation as passed would cover over 100,000
Marylanders, and began to be implemented on July 1, 2008.
As of today over 31,000 residents of Maryland have now enrolled
in the newly expanded program. This is a wonderful success
story, as these fellow residents were previously uninsured, and
had no affordable options.
Not so wonderful is that this expansion was
scheduled to cover childless adults as of July 1, 2009, and as
of today is not in the Governor's budget due to the economic
situation. Now that the US Congress and President Obama
has passed a stimulus package into law, Maryland is slated to
receive over $1 billion in the next three years for the state's
Medicaid program. We all need to strongly urge the
Governor to use that money to restore the cuts to the Medicaid
expansion we all fought so hard to see enacted. Not
restoring these cuts to childless adults will result in tens of
thousands of Marylanders not getting the care they so
desperately need.
So, we need your help. With this email
is a simple action for you to take. All you have to do is
enter your contact information and hit send, and a letter will
be emailed to the Governor and key Annapolis leaders
asking them to restore the cuts to the Medicaid
program. The letter is already written, you can change it
or not if you want, but it only takes about 10 seconds and your
voice will be heard. Any reductions to these programs will
hurt families and childless adults, will prevent
Marylanders from getting the care they need, will increase
emergency room usage, and increase uncompensated care creating
more burdens on our already overworked hospital system among
others. Besides how these reductions hurt Marylanders,
residents of our state do not want these programs cut! To
see recent polling, click here.
The Health Care Affordability
Act of 2009
After a couple of years of updating our
Health Care for All! plan, the actuality of legislation is
here. About a week ago we dropped the bill that would
ensure quality, affordable health care for all
Marylanders. The Health Care Affordability Act of 2009
sponsored by Delegate Jim Hubbard and Senator Verna Jones is now reality and
we are ready to get going. The House version is HB 951,
and the Senate version is SB 813. If you would like to
read the actual legislation we have introduced click here.
With the introduction of the Health Care for All! plan as
legislation we have hearing dates we would love all of you to
attend. It is very important that our leaders in Annapolis
hear that the citizens of Maryland want significant health care
reform. The coalition is growing quickly and as of today
we are over 525 groups from
across the state strong! If an organization you are
involved with has yet to endorse the plan, we encourage you get
involved today. Click here to learn more about the specific
plan, or click here to fill out the resolution and get
it back to us asap.
So this is where you come into the fold.... On
Wednesday March 4, at 1pm, The Health Care
Affordability Act of 2009, SB 813, will have its first hearing
in the Senate Finance Committee. We would really like lots
of you to come out and testify, submit letters of support, and
let Annapolis folks know we want health care change. If
you can make it or have questions about how you can help, please
let us know by calling our office (410 235 9000), or
sending an email to brooke@healthcareforall.com.
The House bill hearing, for HB 951, is tentatively set for
Thursday, March 19 in the House Health and Government Operations
Committee. This hearing will also take place at 1pm and we
will let all of you know when the date is confirmed.
Regardless, keep checking in with us and we really would like to
see a lot of you out at these crucial hearings. This is an
exciting time for us and we are beyond pleased to have all of
you support us as we move forward towards our common goal of
health care for ALL Marylanders.
Also in
Annapolis....
We here at the Maryland Citizens' Health
Initiative are also working on a variety of legislation in
Annapolis this Maryland General Assembly Session. We are
just over a third of the way through this year's session and
there is a range of legislation we are actively pursuing and
monitoring. Some of these issues include covering all kids
in Maryland, keeping tobacco out of the hands of our youth,
educating doctors about the most cost-efficient and effective
prescription drugs, genetic discrimination in health insurance,
finding eligible Marylanders for existing programs, and
insurance market reform in general among others. If you
would like more information about specific pieces of legislation
or bill numbers please do not hesitate to call us at 410 235
9000, or email matt@healthcareforall.com.
Thank You
It really has been an exciting year and a
half, but there is still lots of work to do. We appreciate
all the hard work you do to help us take steps forward to
covering everyone. Having the Health Care for All! plan
now legislation feels like an accomplishment on its own and we
look forward to working hard in the next couple of years to make
the passage certain. As always, we cannot make any
progress without a devoted coalition that you all have been for
years. So, come out to the hearing, call and write you
legislators, but most importantly for now, fill out the action
alert with this message and let the leaders of Annapolis know
that restoring the cuts to Medicaid for childless adults should
be priority number one!
Matt, Vinny, Rosanna,
Suzanne, Brooke, Caitlin, Susan, Gretchen, Deborah, Beatrice,
and all of our wonderful volunteers.
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Governor Martin O'Malley (if you live in Maryland)
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Please Restore Expansion in Medicaid to Childless Adults!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
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,
[Your Name]
cc:
Delegate James Proctor (if you live in Maryland)
Delegate Michael Busch (if you live in Maryland)
Delegate Norman Conway (if you live in Maryland)
Delegate Peter Hammen (if you live in Maryland)
Senator Edward Kasemeyer (if you live in Maryland)
Senator Thomas Middleton (if you live in Maryland)
Senator Thomas Miller (if you live in Maryland)
Senator Ulysses Currie (if you live in Maryland)
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Instructions:
Click here to take action on this issue
Tell-A-Friend:
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
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What's At Stake:
What is at stake you ask??? LOTS! If we don't restore cuts to childless adults in Medicaid slated to begin July 1, 2009 tens of thousands of low-income working Marylanders will be out in the cold, once again with far fewer or NO choices to ensure quality, affordable health care for themselves. Basically, without help, this population has no options. Especially in economic times like these with Marylanders losing jobs everyday, it is essential that we have a backstop program like Medicaid fully funded to care for our most vulnerable citizens. When the Governor's Working Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act of 2007 was passed, over 100,000 working Marylanders would now have access to the Medicaid program. That is great progress, and as of today over 31,000 Marylanders have enrolled in the newly expanded program. BUT, if we do not continue this great progress as scheduled with the expansion to childless adults set for July 1, 2009 we will be making a mistake. We cannot allow this to happen.
Campaign Expiration Date:
April 14, 2009
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