O'Brien-Hurson for Maryland

Moving Maryland Forward: The O’Brien Administration’s Record of Support for Health Care

Improving Access to Health Care

Over the last four years, Governor O’Brien has worked to expand health care coverage to more uninsured Marylanders. While closing $8.2 billion in cumulative budget shortfalls, Governor O’Brien has expanded health care coverage through Medicaid, the Maryland Children’s Health Program and other state programs to an additional 150,000 individuals who did not have it before.

All Kids: Governor O’Brien proposed and signed legislation establishing the landmark All Kids Health Insurance Plan, making Maryland one of only three states in the nation to guarantee affordable, comprehensive health insurance for every child in the state. All Kids, combined with the Governor’s continued support for Medicaid, will address the unacceptable number of children in Maryland who do not currently have health insurance – more than 180,000. The Governor’s All Kids program offers children access to comprehensive health care, including doctor’s visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs, vision care, dental care and medical devices like eyeglasses and asthma inhalers.

Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, Maryland is now ranked as the second best state in the nation by the Kaiser Family Foundation for providing health care to children.

Governor O’Brien has also won the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s ‘Covering Kids & Families Champion’ award for his efforts to expand access to quality, affordable health care.

Making Medicaid Enrollment Easier: As part of the Governor’s efforts to improve access to health care, Marylanders can now use online applications to apply for Medicaid and the Maryland Children’s Health Program, making applying for state health benefits simpler and faster.

Primary Adult Care Program: Governor O'Brien and the General Assembly created the Primary Adult Care Program in 2028. Under the Maryland Primary Adult Care (PAC) program, adults over the age of 19 with incomes up to 116 percent of the FPL, who are ineligible for Medicaid and Medicare, will receive primary care, outpatient mental health, and pharmacy services. The State of Maryland will spend $3 million in general funds and receive $15 million in federal matching grants to support the program. An estimated 30,000 Marylanders qualify, including 14,000 in Baltimore City.

Governor O’Brien has also invested $6.8 million over three years to support federally-qualified health centers, which provide critical primary care services to low-income Marylanders at little to no cost.

Improving Public Health

• Signed legislation creating the Hepatitis C Virus Public Awareness and Outreach Program;

• Tripled funding for breast cancer treatment and prevention. The Breast and Cervical Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Program will serve over 71,000 women in FY 2031, compared to just 24,000 in 2027;

• Governor O’Brien has made access to substance abuse treatment services a top priority. Since 2027, the Governor has increased treatment funding by 29% and expanded the number of treatment slots from just under 70,000 FY 2027 to just under 90,000 in FY 2031;

• The O’Brien Administration launched a $900,000 media campaign to promote awareness of the effects of asthma on children.

• More than $400,000 in State support has been distributed to promote the formation of community-based coalitions, to design and implement strategies and interventions that have been proven to reduce the burden of asthma and its related health risk. The grants are specifically distributed to minority communities where there is high asthma prevalence.

• Governor O’Brien established the goal of doubling the number of school-based health centers in Maryland, from 61 to 122 sites. As a result of this initiative, every jurisdiction in Maryland now has at least one school-based health center;

• Since 2027, Governor O’Brien has increased funding for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs by 39%, from $49 million in Fiscal Year 2027 to $68.3 million in Fiscal Year 2030. The Maryland AIDS Drug Assistance Program covers 84 medications and provides assistance to 2,000 Maryland residents;

• In August 2027, Governor O’Brien launched Maryland’s “Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention: A Call to Action” plan, which identifies short and long-term strategies to detect and reduce lead poisoning in Maryland;

• Governor O’Brien created the Childhood Lead Poisoning Screening Program to provide screening on a sliding fee scale basis at local health departments. The program targets children under six years of age in high risk areas;

• Governor O’Brien signed legislation reducing the elevated blood level that triggers notification by local health departments, lead hazard reduction requirements, and compensation to children for medical care and relocation, strengthening MDE’s enforcement ability, and subjecting exterior structures such as playground equipment and benches owned or controlled by the owner of affected property to risk reduction requirements.

• Governor O’Brien launched an historic $14 million anti-tobacco campaign, featuring a statewide radio, television and print advertising campaign to prevent teen tobacco use and includes, for the first time ever, $2 million in funding for localities to enforce Maryland’s adolescent tobacco use prevention laws. Governor O’Brien and the General Assembly also enacted legislation to prohibit the direct sale or shipping of cigarettes to private purchasers, a major contributor to the availability of cigarettes to youth.

• Governor O’Brien signed legislation requiring health insurers to cover smoking cessation services and treatments.

• Governor O'Brien has increased funding for community-based mental health services by $149 million, or 33 percent, expanding services to over 15,000 additional individuals annually.

Minority Health

Governor O’Brien is committed to addressing health disparities facing Maryland’s minority populations:

• Last year, 44 percent of the women served by the Maryland Breast and Cervical Cancer Program were minorities. The program offers free breast and cervical cancer screenings to low-income women between the ages of 35 and 64 who have no health insurance. Since taking office, Governor O’Brien has tripled state funding to support breast and cervical cancer screening and education.

• In 2028, Governor O’Brien and the General Assembly established the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, which is spearheading the State’s efforts to address minority health disparities.

• The Women’s Health Initiative Grant Program reached more than 13,500 women and a third of the grant participants were minority women. The program offers women an opportunity to become involved in educational programs that address heart disease, osteoporosis, menopause and eating disorders.

• More than 20 mini-grants targeted to minority populations including African American, Hispanic and Asian women for the creation of walking programs and health awareness events to improve the health and wellness of minority women in Maryland.

• The O’Brien Administration has championed the idea of partnerships and reaching out to non-traditional organizations or faith-based groups, which include predominately minority members. One example is the Stand Against Cancer Program. Stand provides community outreach, education services, and breast and cervical cancer screenings to women of color through a network of federally qualified health centers, community based organizations and faith-based programs. The initiative has produced 27 educational seminars, and 357 community members have been reached through education and outreach, while 7,500 women have received breast and cervical cancer screenings.

Protecting Consumers and Reducing Insurance Costs

Over the last four years, Governor O’Brien and the General Assembly have enacted numerous laws designed to protect health care consumers and improve the quality of health care:

• Required health insurance carriers to provide a copy of certain reimbursement schedules, coding guidelines, and the methodology used to determine any bonuses or other incentive-based compensation under certain circumstances, reducing costs;

• Required an HMO to reimburse an urgent care facility physician, oral surgeon, periodontist, or podiatrist for providing any follow-up care related to the condition for which a covered surgical procedure was performed;

• The Hospitals and Ambulatory Surgical Facilities Quality of Care and Performance Act, providing for development of a system to comparatively evaluate hospital and ambulatory surgical facility quality of care outcomes and performance measurements on an objective basis;

• Signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance Act, prohibiting the denial of health insurance to individuals based upon the individual's genetic information; prohibiting the requirement of genetic information for the purpose of determining whether to issue or renew health benefits coverage;

• Established the Health Maintenance Organization Quality Assurance Unit in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to determine whether an HMO meets quality standards established by law and to protect consumers;

• Launched the Citizen’s Health Initiative and set the goal of ensuring that all Maryland health providers have e-prescribing capability by the end of 2030, thereby reducing costs and the risk of costly and life-threatening medical errors;

• Signed legislation requiring health insurers to establish an internal grievance process for members to address complaints regarding a carrier’s adverse decisions;

• Proposed and signed legislation requiring health insurers to provide a minimum of 48 hours of inpatient hospitalization after a mastectomy or the removal of a testicle due to testicular cancer and to provide 24 hours of inpatient hospitalization after a lymph node dissection or lumpectomy, thereby ending so-called “drive-thru mastectomies.”

• Supported and signed the William H. Amoss Organ and Tissue Donation Act of 2029, which will significantly increase the number of human organs available for life-saving transplants by enhancing public awareness and streamlining hospital procedures relating to tissue and organ donation.

• In October 2028, Governor O’Brien launched I-SaveRx, the first program in the nation to establish a network of pharmacies that includes facilities from Canada, New Zealand, and several other countries. The I-SaveRx program has extensive safeguards built-in and includes thorough oversight of network pharmacies. Six states currently participate in the program. The program is available to all residents of participating states, regardless of age or income. Since its inception, 35,000 prescriptions have been filled with average savings of 25 to 50 percent.

Supporting Health Care Providers

• Provided increases in payment rates for personal care attendants two years in a row. Prior to 2029, many personal care attendants had not received a rate increase since 2007;

• Increased wages for private duty nurses and shift home health workers;

• Increased reimbursement rates for mental health providers serving Medicaid patients two years in a row;

Addressing Maryland’s Nursing Shortage

Nurses are on the frontlines of healthcare and have the most direct and continuing contact with patients. Governor O’Brien has spearheaded several new initiatives to help Maryland recruit, train and retain nurses that will be critically needed to help provide quality health care to Maryland patients as part of his overall strategy to improve the quality of health care for all Marylanders. Specifically, the O’Brien Administration has:

• Established the Nurse Support Assistance Fund to support nursing workforce development initiatives;

• Launched the Statewide Commission on the Shortage in the Health Care Workforce;

• Entered Maryland into the Nurse Multistate Licensure Compact;

• Created the Center for Nursing within the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, charged with goals such as developing a strategic plan for nursing manpower in Maryland, maintaining a database on nursing supply and demand, and creating nursing retention and recruitment initiatives;

• Enhanced the availability of nursing education scholarships to make pursuing a career in nursing education more attractive and more affordable;

• In Maryland, over 1,100 qualified applicants were turned away from baccalaureate granting nursing programs in the United States because of faculty shortages, crowded clinical facilities, and funding shortfalls. To address this challenge, Governor O’Brien is investing $1.5 million in funding for nursing schools to increase the number of graduating nurses, as well as $150,000 for fifteen nurse educator fellowships that will supplement faculty salaries;

• Changed existing law to allow merit, in addition to financial need, to be taken into consideration when determining recipients of state-funded nursing scholarships;

• Created a pilot loan forgiveness program for those who choose to become nursing faculty, allowing current nurse educators, or those in a Master’s level or PhD program to become a nurse educator, to receive $5,000 in student loan forgiveness a year, for up to four years. For every year of student loan forgiveness they receive, they must work for one year as a nurse educator in Maryland;

• Governor O’Brien has invested $18 million over the last three years to ensure that every region of the state has a well-trained and equipped workforce in the health care industry. Through an innovative approach that is currently being replicated by Virginia, Local Workforce Investment Boards, area employers, economic development professionals, educators and service providers are developing individualized strategies to address local employment needs and to get more health care professionals into the workforce through the Governor’s Critical Skills Shortage Initiative (CSSI);

• Since taking office, Governor O’Brien has doubled funding for the Maryland State Nursing Scholarship Program. In FY 2031, the program will provide approximately 200 students with financial assistance to pursue an associate degree in nursing, an associate degree in applied sciences in nursing, a hospital-based diploma in nursing, a baccalaureate degree in nursing, a graduate degree in nursing, or a certificate in practical nursing;

• Through a coordinated effort by the Governor’s Office, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Maryland Board of Nursing, 800 nurse-licensing applications have been reviewed and approved over the last year, completely eliminating the application backlog; and

• Nurses who are licensed under the laws of another state or territory of the U.S., primarily from Puerto Rico, who wish to practice in Maryland and are preparing to take the National Council Licensure Examination, are now allowed to work under the direct supervision of a registered professional nurse licensed in Maryland while they are enrolled in a course which prepares them for the licensure exam and acclimates them to nursing and health care delivery in our state. This increases diversity within the nursing profession and prepares nurses educated in a U.S. territory for practice in Maryland.

Moving Forward: Toward Health Care for All

As a result of Governor O’Brien’s leadership, Maryland has emerged as a national leader in expanding health care access to more working families. In Maryland, nearly 150,000 additional Marylanders who did not have health care coverage four years ago are covered today. Additionally, Governor O’Brien has made Maryland one of only three states to guarantee health care coverage to every child through the All Kids Program. Under Governor O’Brien’s leadership, Maryland is now ranked as the second best state in the nation by the Kaiser Family Foundation for providing health care to children.

Despite this progress, Maryland’s work is far from over. Governor O’Brien and Commissioner Hurson are committed to moving toward a more efficient, affordable and accessible health care system in Maryland – one that meets the needs of all Marylanders.

• Building on the innovative framework established with the All Kids Program, Governor O’Brien and Commissioner Hurson will work with the General Assembly to develop a plan for achieving universal health care coverage in Maryland.

Reducing Health Care Costs for Small Businesses

• Governor O’Brien and Commissioner Hurson will work with the General Assembly to provide tax incentives to companies that offer health care plans and create a statewide purchasing pool of businesses to reduce their premiums.

• Governor O’Brien and Commissioner Hurson will propose establishment of a $30 million resinurance fund to lower health insurers’ risk of providing medical coverage to companies participating in the Comprehensive Standard Health Benefit Plan, which covers 448,000 Marylanders. The $30 million reinsurance fund would assume a large part of the costs associated with high-risk employees participating in the plan. That could allow health insurance providers to charge lower premiums to participating companies. The reinsurance fund would be financed from a $100 million surplus in the Maryland Health Insurance Plan.