By John M. Colmers
Special to the AFRO
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John M. Colmers (Photo/msa.md.gov)
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(April 21, 2009) - A single man or woman can make a difference in this world.
Lives can be saved. Families and the communities where they live can be enriched. History shows us example after example of how the world can be made better by the ideas, vision or just plain hard work of the individual.
So, imagine the possibilities when great leaders at the highest levels of our government share a vision and join hands to improve health care for a state or, indeed, a nation.
That is what Maryland families are seeing now with an important new partnership between Governor Martin O’Malley and President Barack Obama. Both made great and affordable health care for everyone a priority and then went to work.
Before Barack Obama became our 44th president and before the needs of many American families grew as a result of our national recession, Governor O’Malley led the way in Maryland and as a result:
• More than 33,000 more parents and guardians have health care coverage under a new program that is assisting even more families as the national recession claims more jobs.
• More than 150 small businesses have been able to cover 700 more employees at a drastically reduced cost under the Governor’s Health Insurance Partnership with small business.
• Dental care is now available to thousands of underserved Maryland children so that we never lose another child like Deamonte Driver, the Prince George’s County 12-year-old who died when an untreated toothache infected his brain.
• We made prescription drugs more affordable for more seniors by closing the Medicare Part D donut hole and expanding our Medicaid Older Adults Waiver by almost 25 percent.
• Maryland now leads the way among all states in mental health services, childhood immunizations and is making real progress on infant mortality.
With President Barack Obama in the White House we are finally seeing leadership at the top that is working with Congress to:
• Expand our health care coverage for families, expand immunization programs, keep our community health clinics open and our health care workers employed and on the job with Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding.
• Re-authorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
• Expand and pay for 65 percent of the cost of continuing health care insurance for bread-winners who loose their jobs due to the recession.
Every move made by Governor O’Malley to expand vital health services to Maryland families has fit perfectly with the vision of a president who has told us from the beginning that, “ …health care reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it's a fiscal imperative."
Among those reforms championed by the president is what is known as Health Information Technology (IT). Doctors and hospitals see it as a way to deliver better health care to their patients by making health records available at the touch of a computer keyboard. Gov. O’Malley and President Obama see it as a way to get skyrocketing health care costs under control. Patients will enjoy better health care at a reduced price.
Under Gov. O’Malley’s leadership, Maryland started working on a Health IT system two years ago. This year, the Maryland General Assembly made this the first state in the nation to authorize full implementation by passing the Governor’s Health IT legislation.
It’s not a moment too soon since President Obama gave Health IT a huge funding push within the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As a result, Maryland will enjoy the savings, the health care benefits and the jobs this will create, first.
Obama and O’Malley are two leaders, facing a vast ocean of health care challenges, rowing together in the same direction and picking up speed. That’s what leaders can do when they define their priorities and act like partners who put the needs and concerns of families first.
John M. Colmers is the Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene for the state of Maryland.