Maryland Health Insurance
Maryland’s health status
After reaching an all-time low rank in 2004’s America Health Rankings, (when it was ranked 34th healthiest state in the country), Maryland’s health has made excellent improvement in the past four years. The great improvement in immunization coverage (that went from 80.1% to 92.4% of children 19-35 months getting full immunizations) and the drop in violent crime rates have helped the state accomplish a rank of 26th for 2008, according to the United Health Foundation. Maryland was ranked 28th last year.
Maryland has been doing a lot of things right lately. For example, they have increased their public health funding and is now in the top five states in the Country, with a great amount of $126 per person, and they have managed to lower their geographical disparity (although it’s still high, it went down 0.6% from last year) and their immunization coverage percentage. They are also the top state in the Country when it comes to ready access to primary care with 178.6 primary care physicians per 100,000 population. Also decreasing slightly, air pollution (13.8 micrograms of particles per cubic meter), occupational fatalities (only 49 per 100,000 workers), and premature death (lowered significantly this year, with 7,615 years lost per 100,000 population).
When it comes to Health Insurance, although Maryland is improving on its accessibility and public funding, 13.8% of the population in Maryland still lacking basic Health Insurance, which is an average percentage when compared with the rest of states in the US. The only alarming fact of this percentage is that it’s one of the only key issues Maryland Health Care System has not been able to control, and has been rising for the past 10 years (it was 8.9% in 1990, 12% in 2003, and 13.6% a year ago). A revision to health care policies and plans needs to be made because despite the readiness of the system and the great coverage, accessibility is somehow still getting lost. Preventable hospitalizations, unchanged from last year, could also be lowered ensuring a better functioning of the system.
Overall, Maryland is at a great time right now, with noticeable improves when it comes to health over the past couple of years. They need to keep this great tendency up, and watch out for possible health issues (cardiovascular and cancer-related death rates have to keep lowering, and one of their biggest challenges, the percentage of obesity prevalence, needs to be monitored as it went up 1.4% in one year). When it comes to health, Maryland is a good place to live.
Maryland health insurance
In Maryland, 86.2% of the citizens in Maryland have Health Insurance. Despite the strong government funding, this percentage is not as high as it could be, which means Maryland has adequate but not extremely accessible health plan, with 13.8% of the population in Maryland having no Health Insurance. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is average, with 64.1% percent of employers offering health Insurance plans, a percentage that has been going up since 2003, which is an excellent sign. About 80% of workers take the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers.
Not only the state has an excellent public health funding, but it also has the best rate in the country of primary care physicians for the population, with 17.68 physicians per 100,000 population. Maryland has a very good and overall accessible health system, with an good percentage of population that could get medical care when needed (90.4%). The patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 14.6%.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Best health plans in Maryland
The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for Maryland as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.
Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.
Get involved
If you are concerned about Maryland’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.
If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.
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| Contact the White House PHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 State officials:
Official Maryland health insurance information
| Recent Maryland health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of Maryland and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for Maryland: |
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