Health Coverage

Women will have access to free health services for certain procedures under health care reform that go into affect tomorrow. The health benefits, a result of the Mikulski Women's Preventive Health Amendment, guarantee that women will receive, at no cost, an annual women's health exam to screen for the leading causes of death among women. It also requires all health plans to cover comprehensive women's preventive care and screenings with no copayments. Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski joined other Congressional Democrats Tuesday in announcing the new services.

Big business and anti-tax groups have been making hay out of a story in CEO Magazine that ranked Maryland 41st in business climate. But look closely: a lot of the things that CEO Magazine says are holding states back are actually things you would want for yourself and your family. Many of CEO Magazine's bottom-ranked states have the highest incomes, lowest poverty rates, and the best rates of health coverage and education attainment, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland.

I would like Gov.Martin O'Malleyto explain why citizens who no longer have pension plans or retiree medical and prescription benefits through their employers are forced to continue to pay for state employee pensions and retiree health coverage. We should be able to use the tax dollars currently directed toward these generous state employee benefit programs to save for our own retirement just as state employees should be saving for their own retirement. Marilyn Lewis

The Maryland Senate voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would qualify more Marylanders for government health care and pay for a new health insurance marketplace, both part of advancing the rollout of federal health reform. The House of Delegates approved an identical bill Monday, clearing the way for the legislation to make its way to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his signature. Initiatives in the bill spell out changes in the way poor or uninsured residents and small businesses would access health care once the federal law becomes effective next year.

If you're considering taking a job with a small employer, take a hard look at the benefits: Health insurance might not be included. A March study from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the number of employers offering coverage has declined, particularly among small businesses. Last year, 60 percent of employers with between three and 199 workers provided insurance, down from 68 percent five years earlier. It's not that small businesses are stingy. But because they have fewer employees to contribute premiums, the insurer takes on more risk, which drives up the cost for the business or workers (or both)

WASHINGTON -- Ann Fowler recently returned to her job as a receptionist at a Baltimore hair salon because it pays better than the bank job she took last year -- even though she now has no health insurance.But with a 15-month-old son, she and her husband are beginning to struggle. The child "was sick less than two weeks ago, and I had to put out $100 just in prescriptions," Ms. Fowler said."You have to cut out a lot of things. If I get sick, I don't go to the doctor because I can't afford it," she explainedA new study shows the Fowlers are members of a rapidly expanding club: the working uninsured.

House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. unveiled yesterday the outlines of a reform package to bring health insurance to the more than 500,000 Marylanders who don't have coverage. The package calls for expanding income limits for the Medicaid program for the poor, currently about $4,000 a year for an individual, to $13,200; subsidizing coverage on a sliding scale for those making between $13,200 and $22,150; regulating and standardizing individual insurance to make buying policies easier for those who can afford them; and dangling tax incentives to employers for offering affordable health coverage to their workers.

WASHINGTON -- At least 34 million Americans -- and probably many more -- who work for companies with self-insured health plans could be deprived of their coverage for costly illnesses like AIDS or cancer, health care specialists warned yesterday.They were speaking in light of the Supreme Court's decision Monday to let stand a federal appeals court ruling that allows companies with self-funding health care schemes to slash coverage for expensive treatments after their workers develop catastrophic illnesses.

The state of Maryland has received a $28.3 million performance bonus for its efforts in enrolling children in federal health programs. The money was given to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for fiscal year 2011. The state has expanded coverage to more than 300,000 people since 2007 and almost half were children. Bonuses were given to states with at least five Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program features that promoted the enrollment and retention of health coverage for children.

Despite being among America's wealthiest states, Maryland posted one of the highest increases of uninsured people last year.Nearly 160,000 Marylanders joined the rolls of those without health insurance in 1998, bringing the number of uninsured residents to 837,000, or one-sixth of the population. Statistics show more than half of these people work. A quarter of them are children.Decrying these numbers, a coalition of more than 30 groups launched a grass-roots, statewide campaign yesterday to fix the problem.

It's difficult to catalogue all the negative impacts of Obamacare in one place. Nevertheless, my readers deserve to know a few of the uglier details as the new year rings in one of the most expensive, convoluted policy experiments in American history. •Lost in the hysteria surrounding Obamacare's 20 new tax increases is the law's surcharge of 0.9 percent on wages and salaries and 3.8 percent on investment income. This is another levy directed at small business owners. You know - the ones who are supposed to ramp up hiring to spark our economic recovery.

By establishing a health benefit exchange and expanding Medicaid coverage, Maryland is on a path to extend access to affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of individuals, families and small businesses. For our progress to be sustainable, however, the growth in health care spending must be slowed and brought into balance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, health spending in 1999 averaged $3,993 per person in Maryland, about the national average. Over the next decade, however, Maryland's per capita spending rose 88 percent to $7,492 in 2009, outpacing national growth by more than $500 per person.

Americans are paying a little more for health coverage this year. Premiums rose modestly for single and family employer-sponsored coverage, according to an annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust. The average annual premium in 2012 was $5,615 for single coverage, a 3 percent increase from 2011, while family coverage was $15,745, a 4 percent increase.   Companies continued to offer insurance despite the country's sluggish economic environment.

Baltimore County employees will have to cover more of their health insurance costs starting in 2015. The county's Health Care Review Committee, made up of labor representatives and others, has voted to approve a plan that phases in a 5 percent increase in employee contributions starting in 2015, county officials said Monday. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said the county needed to make the changes because of escalating health care costs, which take up about 10 percent of the county budget.

Women will have access to free health services for certain procedures under health care reform that go into affect tomorrow. The health benefits, a result of the Mikulski Women's Preventive Health Amendment, guarantee that women will receive, at no cost, an annual women's health exam to screen for the leading causes of death among women. It also requires all health plans to cover comprehensive women's preventive care and screenings with no copayments. Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski joined other Congressional Democrats Tuesday in announcing the new services.

Health care ruling is victory for women, all Americans The Supreme Court's ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act marks a critical victory for women's health and the health of all Americans. As a returning college student, who has lived without health insurance off and on as an adult, I know firsthand the challenges we all face in getting and paying for health coverage. And I'm not the only one. Because of this landmark decision, millions of Americans will have access to affordable, quality health care for what may be the first time.

By establishing a health benefit exchange and expanding Medicaid coverage, Maryland is on a path to extend access to affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of individuals, families and small businesses. For our progress to be sustainable, however, the growth in health care spending must be slowed and brought into balance. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, health spending in 1999 averaged $3,993 per person in Maryland, about the national average. Over the next decade, however, Maryland's per capita spending rose 88 percent to $7,492 in 2009, outpacing national growth by more than $500 per person.

Big business and anti-tax groups have been making hay out of a story in CEO Magazine that ranked Maryland 41st in business climate. But look closely: a lot of the things that CEO Magazine says are holding states back are actually things you would want for yourself and your family. Many of CEO Magazine's bottom-ranked states have the highest incomes, lowest poverty rates, and the best rates of health coverage and education attainment, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland.

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Friday to start cloudy and then become sunny, with a high near 102 and west winds between 6 and 9 miles per hour. A heat advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Heat index values will be as high as 109. Friday night is expected to be partly cloudy, with a low around 79 and west winds around 5 miles per hour or less. There is a 20 percent chance of precipitation. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute.

States including Maryland can move with more certainty to insure their poor, and the federal government can require others to buy health coverage after the Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's landmark health care law Thursday. The highly anticipated decision is expected to add millions to the health insurance rolls, including Lashonda Edwards of Windsor Mill, who lost her coverage when she was laid off from her receptionist job in 2010. "I should be able to get the care I need," she said.