ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – Maryland State Assembly Delegate Kris Valderrama (D - Prince George’s) has filed a major bill, HB 99, to expand access to health care for the state's uninsured children.
"My maiden bill, HB 997 is an outgrowth of my deepening concern as a mother over the skyrocketing health care costs and the absence of an umbrella of universal health care for our ever increasing number of uninsured children," the freshman delegate said.
In 2006, Valderrama ran successfully for a delegate seat in the Maryland General Assembly on a campaign platform of a mother "advocating the best for children."
She succeeded her father David M. Valderrama who held the seat for twelve years, from 1990 to 2002.
The issue of uninsured children in
Maryland, like in many other states, has become a major concern for many
communities in this state - poor, immigrant, working class, or otherwise - as
well as for the policymakers.
According to a Maryland Health Care
Commission study released in January 2007, 9 percent of all Maryland children
are uninsured - approximately 130,500 - while another 22 percent rely on
Medicaid or some other form of public health insurance.
Any cuts from the Federal government,
which provides 50 percent of Maryland’s Medicaid funds, would further aggravate
the problem of already limited medical services available for uninsured
children.
HB 997, together with other health care
bills, has touched off a debate on funding sources, given the projected state
budget deficit next year of $1.3 billion.
The health care bills received a
sympathetic hearing in the House of Delegates but are expected to run into some
opposition in a skeptical Senate.
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