On July 1, 2002,
Maryland was one of twelve states to receive a State Planning Grant
from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA). This $1.23 million, one-year grant
affords the State the opportunity to build on its longstanding
commitment to developing innovative private and public sector programs
that make health insurance coverage more accessible and affordable for
Marylanders.
The overarching goal
of the Maryland State Planning Grant is to develop viable, realistic
and effective options for expanding comprehensive health insurance
coverage – options that, in turn, could lead to a reduction in the
number of uninsured Marylanders.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in partnership with the
Maryland Health Care Commission and the Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health, were awarded the grant. The grant
will be used to study and identify key socio-demographic and workplace
characteristics of the State’s uninsured. Factors that lead
businesses to offer health insurance coverage and their employees to
take it up, as well as factors associated with take-up of public
health insurance programs will also be explored.
Based on this information, the Department and the Health Care Coverage
Workgroup will develop a series of economic simulations modeling
take-up rates, health care utilization and costs for various public
and private sector insurance coverage option strategies. The Health
Care Coverage Workgroup is comprised of representatives from the
State’s medical provider, insurance, health plan, business, health
care advocacy and health care research communities. The results of
the grant’s research and modeling efforts will be discussed in a
report submitted to the Secretary of Health and Human Services in
December 2003.
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