Stephanie Tracy, The Examiner
2007-02-17 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

For Toby Drabczyk, health insurance has been elusive.

The Frederick County mother of four was covered during her last two pregnancies under the state-funded health care program for children, but when that coverage ran out, Drabczyk and her husband, who makes $36,000 annually, couldn’t afford to add her to the policy that included her children.

“I cannot afford to go to the doctor without insurance,” she testified Friday before the House Health and Government Operations Committee.

Drabczyk, who was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, said she worried about what would happen to her children if she develops Type II diabetes. Supporters and opponents of the House proposal to expand Medicaid access to children and adults by raising the cigarette tax by $1 per pack filled the committee room and spilled out into the hallway for the bill’s first legislative hearing. The bill aims to reduce the number of people who are uninsured — an estimated 800,000 — in Maryland by about one-third.

Reducing the number of uninsured also could benefit insured residents who pay an estimated $1,000 annually in charges to cover uncompensated hospital care, said House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, the chief sponsor of the House bill.

“We could reduce the cost to every Maryland family to $600,” Busch said. “This is a tax relief bill.”

Gov. Martin O’Malley also introduced a health care expansion bill designed to improve access by giving small businesses more pre-tax insurance options — and without raising the cigarette tax.

“Our concern is the issue of sustainability,” said Joe Bryce, the governor’s chief legislative adviser, who said the governor remained skeptical about using new revenue sources when the state faces a large budget deficit next year.

According to legislative analysts, the $1 increase in the tobacco tax that will be heard in the House Ways and Means Committee next week is estimated to bring in $212 million in the first year, $118 million in the second, and would decrease between 3 percent and 5 percent each year beginning in the third year as the number of smokers decreases.

stracy@baltimoreexaminer.com