After years of delays and debate, 2024 was the year that some health initiatives began to move forward. And proponents now worry that 2025 could be the year those gains swing in the other direction.
Voters enshrined the right to abortion into the state constitution, and lawmakers are finally moving forward with efforts to expand health care access for undocumented immigrants and rein in prescription drug costs for state employees after years of stalling.
But given the projected $2.7 billion national budget deficit and the uncertainty of a second Trump administration, supporters admit they “don’t know what the future holds.”
This year began with the passage of the Access to Care Act, a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to buy private health insurance on state insurance markets starting in 2026. This was a major victory for health care and immigrant advocates. The bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate the previous year.
Another repeat claim wasn’t so lucky. Advocates had hoped that 2024 would be the year lawmakers would legalize the so-called medically assisted dying procedure, after years of effort. The process allows people with a terminal illness and less than six months to live to choose when to die with medical help. Doctor.
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Supporters say such laws would give people at the end of their lives some dignity and control instead of dying a slow and painful death. But opponents say medically assisted dying is a problematic concept with dire consequences if misused.
But the bill stalled in the Senate Judicial Procedures Committee, where some members were unsure where they stood on the issue. Because there was no vote in committee, the bill died in committee.
Medicaid relaxation ends
April marks the end of Maryland’s “Medicaid relaxation,” a pandemic-era policy that prohibits the state from kicking people off Medicaid while the COVID-19 public health emergency is in effect. The chapter on is over. Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for low-income households, and eligibility is determined by income.
However, once the public health emergency ends in May 2023, the state will begin a “mitigation” process that will reduce Medicaid eligibility for approximately 1.8 million enrollees at a rate of 100,000 to 160,000 per month. Re-evaluated. It took a year to complete, during which the state launched a campaign reminding Medicaid recipients that they needed to reapply for insurance for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak.
At the end of the review in April, approximately 1.69 million residents were still enrolled in Medicaid, far more than the 1.4 million Marylanders who were enrolled at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Ta.
Those still receiving Medicaid must reapply every year, just as before. Michele Eberle, executive director of the Maryland Health Benefits Exchange, said people who lost insurance were often affected by age, income, finding coverage elsewhere or simply not reapplying for coverage. , but said many were likely to find medical care elsewhere. .
“There are a few things going on. We know people are getting insurance on health exchanges,” Eberle said, referring to the state’s insurance market. “We know there are people who have taken out their spouse’s insurance… We also know that there are people who have really lost their eligibility or moved out of state. So there’s a lot of change. There was.”
Eberle said the Maryland Health Benefits Exchange is working through an adjustment process to ensure all people who no longer qualify for Medicaid are disenrolled. The end of the settlement marks the official end of the pandemic hold policy, she said.
“This is just the final deep clean after a year of relaxing,” Eberle said.
PDAB selects drugs for cost review
In 2024, a Prescription Drug Affordability Commissioner charged with lowering prescription drug costs for employees enrolled in the state’s health insurance plan, after years of administrative challenges and opposition delayed the launch of that function. We saw some movement by the association.
The board selected the first six drugs to undergo a final cost review this year: Dupixent, Faxiga, Jardiance, Ozempic, Scrigi, and Trulicity, which are used to treat type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, eczema, and Crohn’s disease. It is a prescription drug used to treat conditions including.
The cost review is still in progress. If any of these drugs are ultimately determined to be “unaffordable” to Marylanders, the board will consider various ways to lower prices. This could include placing payment caps on these drugs, as states and local governments set a maximum price at which drug companies will pay for these drugs.
Vinny DeMarco, president of Maryland Healthcare for All and an avid supporter of the board, hopes the board’s work begins sooner.
“We fully expected state and local payment caps to be in place by 2023. That was undermined by former Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of the funding bill, and his appointment Because of the delays and other steps we took, we were actually delayed by several years,” DeMarco said.
The board took a year to put in place the regulatory framework to operate, and it was only in May that it was able to select six medicines for the cost review investigation.
“I wish it had happened years ago,” DeMarco said of the board authorized by the 2019 law.
Other stalled programs undertaken this year included the creation of long-awaited heatstroke regulations to protect workers from illness and death due to extreme temperatures. The rule comes as Maryland experiences its deadliest heat season since 2018, with 25 heat-related deaths expected in 2024.
And in October, officials broke ground on a new community hospital on the Middle Shore, after nearly a decade of trying to get enough funding and support to replace the aging Shore Medical Center, operated by the University of Maryland Medical System.
Voters overwhelmingly support abortion rights
In November, Marylanders overwhelmingly voted to enshrine reproductive rights in the Maryland Constitution, with 76% supporting an amendment that would protect access to abortion and other reproductive freedoms.
Abortion rights advocates celebrate Question 1 victory, but now worry about federal abortion ban
Maryland State Board of Elections report About 2.2 million Marylanders voted for the amendment, the only statewide ballot item this year, compared to 692,000 who voted against it. Erin Bradley, vice president of communications for Planned Parenthood of Maryland, said support for abortion access and reproductive health protections has “elevated to almost the level of a mandate.”
But while abortion rights activists are encouraged by the success of the ballot question, the White House and both chambers of Congress will be under Republican control starting next month, allowing federal authorities to chip away at these protections. I’m worried that he might try to do it.
“We don’t know what the future holds, but what we do know is that Marylanders have made it clear: Reproductive rights are essential in Maryland; It is imperative that access to rights is upheld,” Bradley said.
“Every time a new threat emerges, we need to assess it and respond to that threat,” she said. “But the constitutional amendment was the best and highest level of protection Maryland could provide Marylanders.”
