O’Malley/Brown Release Plan to Make Health Care More Accessible to Maryland Children

Latest in Series of Announcements to Improve Access, Quality and Affordability of Health Care for Maryland Families

BALTIMORE, MD (July 18, 2006) –Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown released their plan to make health care more accessible for the children of Maryland this afternoon at a Police Athletic Center in Baltimore City. After touring the center where many hundreds of children spend their summer days, O’Malley and Brown outlined the measure – part of their detailed plan to improve health care accessibility, quality, and access for Maryland families – that would increase the awareness and accessibility of Maryland’s Children Health Insurance Program (MCHIP) statewide.

MCHIP is Maryland’s version of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
In Maryland, children are eligible for SCHIP if their families earn up to 300% of the federal poverty line, but 17 states have fewer uninsured children as a percentage of all children than Maryland.

“We know that children with access to regular health care develop fewer long term health problems,� said Martin O’Malley. “By providing preventive care up front for all of Maryland’s children by maximizing enrollment in SCHIP, we will not only improve the quality of life for Maryland’s children, but reduce health care costs for all of Maryland’s families.�

During a press conference following the tour, O’Malley and Brown released a plan that would evaluate best practices, including automatic enrollment of children whose families earn up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line, simplified enrollment procedures, and expanded outreach to children living below the poverty level throughout our state. The plan would establish a “no wrong door policy� that allows for families to automatically sign up for MCHIP when they sign up for other services.

In 2004, there were 133,440 uninsured children in Maryland – 74,560 of whom lived below the poverty line. Nationally, over 70 percent of uninsured children live in families that already receive some form of public assistance, including food stamps, school lunch programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

The O’Malley/Brown plan would also examine particularly promising efforts like the concept of Express Lane Eligibility (www.expresslaneinfo.org) which connects uninsured children enrolled in other public programs to health insurance through Medicaid and SCHIP through targeted outreach, streamlined applications, and automatic eligibility.

Download The O’Malley/Brown Health Care-Quality Nurses Plan

Download The Health Care-Prescription Drug Affordability Plan