The Maryland Public Policy Institute
MARYLAND POLICY REPORT
NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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The issues of extending health insurance coverage and lowering the expense of health insurance have received significant attention this year. While politicians debate federal legislation that attempts to address these issues, there is also movement at the state level to do the same. One group in Maryland, the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative Education Foundation (MCHI), previously succeeded in convincing legislators to adopt its health care plans. MCHI successfully pushed for legislation that penalized Wal-Mart for not spending a certain portion of its revenue on health care (although this was later overturned) and was successful in its calls to expand state Medicaid and Maryland Children's Health Insurance Program.
MCHI is now proposing a complex initiative that would mandate almost all Marylanders to have health insurance, expand Medicaid, create a state-run health insurance purchasing pool, create a state-run reinsurance program, and other measures to both reduce the number of Marylanders without insurance as well as decrease the cost of insurance. However, this plan would necessitate a huge increase in Marylanders' taxes and would be unlikely to achieve the sweeping goals MCHI sets. In fact, the plan would increase taxes for Marylanders and would also likely increase health insurance premiums.
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