Posted on 04/03/2009 4:59:41 PM PDT by Lorianne
Maryland now has two universal health care plans to cover more than 800,000 uninsured residents.
Two high-ranking state lawmakers and the CEO of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield unveiled Wednesday morning a roughly $1.6 billion plan for extending health care benefits to all Marylanders who cannot afford to buy it, choose not to buy it or have lost coverage through their employer.
If adopted, the plan would create a health insurance pool that includes members of the state’s high-risk health plan, individuals who are covered by commercial insurers and the rest of the state’s uninsured who are not eligible for Medicaid and other publicly funded programs. It also would wipe out the state’s individual health insurance market and penalize health insurers, individuals and businesses that do not participate.
The plan — dubbed Healthy Maryland — is the brainchild of CareFirst CEO Chester “Chet” Burrell and Del. Peter A. Hammen, chair of the House Health and Government Operations Committee and a staunch advocate of universal health coverage. Healthy Maryland, which is before state lawmakers as House Bill 860 and Senate Bill 515, also has the support of Sen. Thomas “Mac” Middleton, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
“This is the next step to health care reform in Maryland,” Hammen said at the news conference.
One of the biggest provisions of the plan is to create a mandate that all individuals who do not currently get insurance do so, Burrell said.
“You would be required to have it just like you are required to have liability coverage for your car,” he said.
That concept is modeled after Massachusetts’ program for universal health care. The cost would be adjusted on a sliding scale and the state would subsidize the cost for those who cannot afford the premiums. The average unsubsidized monthly premium would be $250 per month, per person.
To date, CareFirst and lawmakers have not floated the plan to other insurers or the business community. But the goal is to strike a debate on the issue and then assemble work groups in the summer that would seek input from those stakeholders, Burrell said.
Healthy Maryland would be funded by enrollees’ premiums, penalties charged of individuals and employers who don’t participate, a share of hospitals’ uncompensated care reimbursement, and money from the Maryland Health Insurance Program, which would cease to exist. The plan does not call for a new or increased tax on businesses — a component of another universal health care plan introduced by Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative in November.
That $15.5 billion plan, spearheaded by Vincent DeMarco, would require a 2 percent hike on businesses’ payroll taxes. Small businesses balked at that plan.
It is unclear how businesses view Healthy Maryland, but talk within the health care industry suggests Maryland’s employers may not have to worry about it until next year. Annapolis insiders say CareFirst, Hammen and Middleton are floating the Healthy Maryland plan this year as a way to gauge lawmakers’ and the public’s appetite for the plan and to encourage more debate about health care coverage.
If that is the case, universal health care reform will become an election year issue for Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, and other state lawmakers in 2010.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has made universal health care coverage a pillar of his administration. Still, officials of Owings Mills-based CareFirst said the region’s largest health insurer did not want to wait for progress to be made on the federal level.
Though some might balk at devising a universal health plan during a down economy, the time is right for health care reform, according to Burrell.
“What better time to do it then in a time of crisis,” he said.
“We think Healthy Maryland is a solid starting point for meaningful discussion and debate regarding expanding access to health care coverage in Maryland,” Jeff Valentine, a CareFirst spokesman, said in a statement. “We look forward to being fully engaged in the debate as we move forward.”
DeMarco said: “The important thing is everyone is looking in the direction” of universal health care. “We’re thrilled [CareFirst is] doing this. We completely agree with CareFirst that this has to be done.”
DeMarco’s plan also requires all Marylanders to have health insurance. His plan would create a state health insurance pool for residents and small businesses to purchase coverage. The state would also help pay premiums for low- to moderate-income families.
A difference in the two plans involves Medicaid: DeMarco’s plan would expand the state’s Medicaid program to cover more of the low-income uninsured. Healthy Maryland does not include that component.
Maryland ping!
Why not just call it “Ration-care” and be done with it.
Treasonous socialist/fascists.
Exactly, and the very thought of using Blue Cross-Blue Shield is sickening.
I really need to get out of this state.
Thank you Mitt Romney, you socialist bastard!!
Great. My firm contracts with Carefirst, and just got a notice that our rates are going up over 20% for this year. This is the reason why.
Get in line.
I was always taught that there is no free lunch. But I guess there is in Maryland.
Well, no... everyone is looking for FREE universal health care. When you tell those surveyed that they'll have to pay for it, the interest level drops rapidly.
Here we have another proposal with a "mandate" that really isn't a mandate. The only way you can actually enforce mandatory coverage is through a draconian and highly expensive invasion of privacy, or through leaving uninsured patients at the curbside outside the ER. If there's no consequence, there's no mandate.
“Exactly, and the very thought of using Blue Cross-Blue Shield is sickening.”
In Maryland, CareFirst (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) is pretty much the best health insurer that is not for rich folks.
As a small business owner, I've tried most of the others, and the fact is that my CareFirst PPO, although fairly expensive, pays, without complaint, and in full. When my son had a brain tumor a year and a half ago, not once did anyone ever say, “We have to check with the health insurer to see if we can do this.” Rather, they saw that we had CareFirst, and it was never a question.
We had over $80,000 in bills 2007, and after the deductible and the co-pay, they paid everything. A couple of times, on a couple of items, they screwed up the reimbursement to the health care provider, requiring dealing with their bureaucracy, but during 2007, my wife had surgery, my younger son had two surgeries and countless doctors appointments, hospital visits, CT scans and MRIs, visits to specialists, and my older son also had to see several specialists.
sitetest
We used it in my Dad’s business and we had to fight them to pay anything. One of our guys had a heart attack and they wanted to pay $7.95 We finally got it straightened out; but it took a while. You had to fight them on every claim.
Last year they rolled that out in my county Howard MD one of the highest taxed in the county. My rich liberal neighbors all worship federal government because Howard County is recession proof thanks to fed gov. Taxes to the great provider are like the pagans giving tribute to the gods.
Inronically I benefit yet I see it as evil, unlike my neighbors.
Was this business in Maryland? When was this?
sitetest
As an individual subscriber, though, my rates have been going up twice a year for the past 5 years or so. My coverage has remained the same but my premium is now about 250% more than it was in 2003. I keep them as "insurance" as in catastrophic occurrence insurance and have had no claims since 2004, so it is not based on "insurability".
Texas
Dude, it’s Maryland, a state that you Californians can actually laugh about.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
They sent a letter this week to subscribers announcing that they would cover "Domestic Partners." Wow, all the married people must be so happy to be paying for the shack-ups.
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