League of Women Voters of Maryland

The League of Women Voters of Maryland has consistently supported legislation to improve access to health care for all Marylanders. In 1990 the League of Women Voters of the United States initiated a study of health care systems in the United States. At that time, the consensus of the national membership was that there was an urgent need for a universal health care system. Now, 17 years later, we are still struggling with the same – or worse – circumstance of lack of health care access for the most vulnerable in our State and reduced health care options for almost everyone else. We support this legislative effort to address these issues in a limited way, even if it is not ideal. The Small Employer Health Insurance Premium Subsidy Program will, for what we hope is an interim period, give some minor support to some of our small businesses, a bit of a boost with their insurance premiums. It is not likely to do much in terms of providing coverage and continuity for most people nor does it solve the portability problems of our current system. And since the legislation does not include a definition of a wellness program or a fiscal note, it is difficult to assess what the actual impacts might be. The Maryland Medical Assistance Program boost of income level eligibility to include more people and more categories of people takes another step in toward an interim fix on the fractured and difficult health care delivery system we have in Maryland. While we don’t want to support a broken system, we are in favor of whatever can be actually accomplished in delivering health care to individuals now. What the League would like to see is the elimination of these multiple systems and the provision for safe and adequate health care to everyone in Maryland, including small business workers, Medicaid families and caretakers, large company workers, and those in between; thereby eliminating the necessity for so many complicated “programs”. This is the only comprehensive and fair way for the richest country and state within that country to care for our people. Since it seems unlikely we are going to get there this year, the League supports the small employer subsidy in hopes that more workers will be able to participate in their employer based plans, and the changes to the Medical Assistance Program that should include not only more adults but also the eligible children they bring with them.