The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has the largest budget in state government; $7 billion, and two-thirds of that money is spent on medical assistance, the Medicaid program of health insurance for low-income people.
Not surprisingly, the O?Malley transition work group on the department spent most of its time commenting on health insurance, Medicaid and the problems of the uninsured.
“I think it was a really good, inclusive and transparent process,” said Ronald Peterson, co-chair of the work group and president of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. It had the largest contingent of any work group, with 130 people participating. Peterson said all the participants submitted one-page position papers.
Expanding health care coverage for the uninsured was the issue most frequently cited in submissions to the work group, the report said. But the work group decided not to choose among competing proposals, leaving that to Health Secretary John Colmers to “evaluate the full range of options and develop a comprehensive plan for covering the uninsured.”
The panel identified at least five “promising proposals” to do that, including O?Malley?s pledge to expand health insurance options for small businesses.
But the work group also noted a plan that the governor has been reluctant to embrace, the Healthy Maryland Initiative raising the cigarette tax $1 a pack to increase eligibility for Medicaid coverage. Healthy Maryland President Vincent DeMarco, who served on the work group, said the plan had “strong support” on the panel.
Peterson said the panel was also concerned that “doctors are under increasing financial pressure. We want to make sure that doctors don?t discontinue seeing Medicaid patients.” O?Malley already has put an additional $40 million in the Medicaid budget to increase payments to doctors.
Other key recommendations are efforts to reduce the amount of money going for long-term care in nursing homes, increase spending on substance abuse and improve access to community-based primary care to relieve pressure on hospital emergency rooms. A January report found that 35 percent of emergency room visits could receive treatment in another setting. The panel recommends the state spend $10 million to expand the use ofelectronic health records throughout Maryland.
Peterson was confident that the new administration was going to take the report seriously. “I don?t think they?re just going to be on the shelf collecting dust,” he said.
