By John Wagner
Sunday, September 16, 2007

Maryland's governor is among those speaking out against new federal rules that would make it harder to enroll middle-income children in a popular government-subsidized health insurance program.

In a strongly worded letter to President Bush last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) called for rescinding the rules, which he said would result in 3,700 Maryland children losing health insurance provided by the jointly funded state-federal program.

"At a time when every Governor in the country is struggling to find ways to decrease the rolls of the uninsured, these new mandates will do the opposite," O'Malley wrote. "They will increase the number of vulnerable children who will suffer the short and long-term consequences of lacking basic health insurance in the earliest years of their lives."

O'Malley objected to a provision in the rules that requires states to cover 95 percent of children in families earning less than twice the poverty level before they can offer services to children in families with slightly higher incomes. Maryland has some of the highest income thresholds in the nation, allowing children to be covered in families earning three times the poverty level.

The Bush administration has argued that the rules are needed to keep the 10-year-old program focused on families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford their own insurance. Allowing middle-income children to enroll could prompt them to drop private coverage, the administration has argued.

O'Malley said that he understands those concerns but that Maryland has "established reasonable restrictions . . . to guard against that phenomenon."

O'Malley did not go as far in his letter as New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) did last week. He pledged to disobey the rules if they take effect as scheduled in August.

The fate of the program is part of a larger ongoing battle between Bush and Democrats in Congress, who would like to give states more flexibility and significantly expand the program. The program will expire at the end of the month if Congress does not reauthorize it or pass a temporary extension.

Gov. Martin O'Malley gave credit last week to a previously unheralded player in Maryland's successful effort to maintain its AAA bond rating: the state's wine industry.

Speaking at an event in the State House honoring winners of a Maryland wine competition, O'Malley recalled a day-long visit a few months ago to Annapolis by representatives of the nation's major bond rating agencies.

"They ended their visit here with lots of your wine at Government House," O'Malley said, using the formal name for the governor's residence.

He thanked the state's growing wine industry for helping to "ply those bond raters" and maintain the AAA rating.

At the event, which recognized winners of the 2007 Maryland Governor's Cup Competition awards, O'Malley also shared what he said was a German proverb: "Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. So drink wine and be saved."

As he announced the membership of the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley recalled the broad support that his legislation creating the panel had received this year from the 188-member General Assembly.

"I'm grateful to all 183 legislators who supported this bill, and I'm looking forward to the same level of overwhelming support for our solution to the structural deficit," O'Malley deadpanned at an event Friday at the State House.

Finding consensus for closing a looming $1.5 billion budget shortfall has proved heavier lifting than creating a 15-member advisory board.

The board is charged with developing a comprehensive plan for Maryland's life sciences industry, which includes biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and biomedical technologies. It will be chaired by H. Thomas Watkins, president and chief executive of Human Genome Science, a Rockville-based company.