Have you ever wondered how exclusion from coverage on healthcare services in Maryland affects the uninsured citizens? My name is _______________ and I am here to shed some light on the details of the SENATE BILL 471 that seeks to address this issue. The BILL is entitled ‘Task Force to Study the Provision of Health Care Coverage to Uninsured Marylanders’.
Having worked on different BILLS in different task forces and with my rich experience in the field, I can confirm that this task force will be able to deal with the issue of exclusion effectively. The task force shall study and research on two different categories of residents in the state. The two categories that will be studied are the individuals covered under the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and those who are not (Hartman, Martin, Benson & Catlin, 2013).
The task force shall collect information that shows the second category’s size, it’s individual’s income status, and their willingness to enroll in a healthcare coverage plan if they were eligible (Kelly, 2015). It will also examine the current state’s policies that govern the local healthcare industry to address the exclusion issue effectively.
This BILL is very important for uninsured Marylanders because it intends to analyze the provision of healthcare coverage among them. The BILL is sponsored by several senators including Nathan–Pulliam, Benson, Conway, Currie, Feldman, Ferguson, Guzzone, Kelley, Lee, Madaleno, Manno, McFadden, Montgomery, Muse, Peters, Pinsky, Ramirez, Raskin, Rosapepe, and Young (Kelly, 2015).
To show how important this Bill is for the residents of Maryland, the voting in both houses was overwhelmingly in support of the establishment of this task force. In the House of Representatives, 137 members voted in support and no one voted against the Bill (Kelly, 2015). Similarly, in the Senate, 46 members voted in support of the BILL and no one voted against it (Kelly, 2015). The positive feedback from the two legislative houses was based on the need to provide affordable healthcare to uninsured individuals.
The role of government is to protect and enhance the well being of its citizen and healthcare exclusion is not one of the ways to do so. However, some healthcare practitioners are opposed to this bill. According to those opposing the Bill, it is a way for the government to justify its measures to improve healthcare services. Private healthcare providers are opposed to this because they fear that their sources of revenue will be altered.
My rationale for supporting this Bill is because it protects the well being of Marylanders in terms of healthcare services. I believe that bypassing the Bill the high cost of healthcare services will no longer be a cause of worry among Marylanders (Hartman, Martin, Benson & Catlin, 2013). The task force will study and write a report recommending an appropriate measure that should be taken to improve the healthcare system to address the issue of exclusion.
This task force will essentially look into the issues that are hurting the uninsured citizens to strategize on how to reduce the burden of accessing healthcare services. I support this Bill because it is a government’s initiative to protect its citizens from the looming high healthcare cost (Heller, Hoffman & Bindman, 2014). I believe that every citizen has a right to access healthcare even if he or she cannot afford to finance the cost of treatment.
References
Hartman, M., Martin, A. B., Benson, J., & Catlin, A. (2013). National health spending in 2011: overall growth remains low, but some payers and services show signs of acceleration. Health Affairs, 32(1): 87-99.
Heller, D. J., Hoffman, C., & Bindman, A. B. (2014). Supporting the Needs of State Health Policy Makers through University Partnerships. Journal of health politics, policy and law, 39(3): 667-677.
Kelly, D. (2015). Task Force to Study the Provision of Health Care Coverage to Uninsured Marylanders. Web.