Expanded health care coverage saves Marylanders $460M

MARYLAND – With expanded health care coverage options, Marylanders have saved $460 million that otherwise would have come out of their pockets.

CEO of Maryland Health Care For All (MHCFA), Vincent DeMarco, says medical bills are the number one reason people file for bankruptcy. “This is a moral imperative to make sure everyone has the healthcare they need,” he said.

However, the new options will be beneficial to all residents, according to DeMarco. “Someone who’s uninsured goes to the hospital and can’t pay their bill, its uncompensated care, which goes right into our premiums,” he said. “Former house speaker Mike Bush called this the ‘hidden health care tax.'”

Health care policy consultant Steve Ports says that $460 million saved, would have been applied to all Marylanders’ health insurance premiums.

“The percentage of hospital uncompensated care that it represents of hospital revenue is 4.3%. That is down from 8.5% from back in 2007,” said Ports. “In 2007, a bill was passed to expand Medicaid in Maryland. And, of course, we are all familiar with the Affordable Care Act in 2014.”

CEO of the Maryland State Medical Society Gene Ransom says these expansions to health care have not only positively impacted the state of Maryland, but specifically the Eastern Shore.

“In a county like Queen Anne’s does have a substantial amount of uninsured, that number has decreased over the last fifteen years, and that means that burden on the regular tax payer has gone down,” Ransom said. “We do have uninsured residents. So, by reducing the uninsured residents that are residents in Queen Anne’s County, that reduces the tax burden and the insurance premium burden on people who live in that county.”