MD lawmakers to debate health insurance payment plan

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – “This is an effort to make sure that our Marylanders are not seeing premium costs skyrocketed,” said Delegate Sheree Sample-Hughes (D-District 37A).

It’s a problem legislators say many Marylanders are faced with. Stuck between wanting to get health insurance, but not being able to afford the premiums that come with it.

“Something has to happen, we cannot afford to lose what insurance people have now aside from the fact we have people who are trying to get in,” Sample-Hughes said.

The result? More and more people are deciding not to get insurance. Which makes those premiums even more expensive. To combat this issue, Maryland lawmakers are pushing for support for House bill 814, which would require an individual mandate for Marylanders without health insurance to pay a state penalty that would go toward purchasing coverage.

“The more people you have covered the less likely they will be paying higher premiums because there won’t be just a small group of individuals covering the cost for everyone. The earlier prevention and the earlier times that we can get people into their primary care providers and seeing them on a normal and regular basis we can offset some of those long-term costs,” said Sample-Hughes.

But despite the growing support for this piece of legislation, other lawmakers have their reservations.

“The concern is when there was modification of the ACA around Congress this last round of the individual mandate had been eliminated. The concern is that there won’t be that incentive for businesses to provide insurance for their employees,” said Senator Addie Eckardt (R-District 37).

Currently the bill has more than 80 co-sponsors in the general assembly. The bill is expected to go before the Health and Government Operations Committee for a hearing on Thursday, February 28th.