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Votes at a glance: Health and Government Operations Committee advances several health bills
Summary
The Health and Government Operations Committee advanced a package of health‑related bills including insurer fee changes, coverage mandates, consumer protections and a new abortion grant program.
The Health and Government Operations Committee completed a series of votes on multiple bills during its session. Below are the items the committee moved forward, with key details and the committee action recorded in the transcript.
- House Bill 54: Health Services Cost Review Commission — Repeal of the user fee assessment sunset. Committee action: passed (moved and seconded; no recorded opposition in the excerpt). The bill removes the June 3, 2025 termination date on the formula that sets the HSCRC user fee cap so the cap remains based on 0.1% of budgeted hospital revenue or the largest cap from the preceding five fiscal years.
- House Bill 580: Terminology updates for Maryland code to replace 'firemen' and similar terms with 'firefighters' and gender‑neutral language. Committee action: passed (unanimous in committee).
- House Bill 666: Maryland Medical Assistance Program and private coverage — coverage for coronary artery calcium scoring. Committee action: passed as amended. Debate: members asked whether physicians can already order such testing (physicians can, but coverage/authorization varies); fiscal note and discussion indicated Medicaid currently covers some of this, and supporters said only a very small number of people would be impacted. Recorded opposition in committee included Delegates Shaliga, Chisholm, Morgan and Riley, among others.
- House Bill 718: (See separate article) Reestablishes a Health Insurance Coverage Protection Commission; passed as amended to add MHBE and HSCRC membership and to monitor federal parity law.
- House Bill 930: Public Health Abortion Grant Program (see separate article) — passed as amended; the bill directs designated transfers from carriers' segregated accounts and an initial $2,000,000 allocation.
- House Bill 970: Insulin — prohibition on step therapy/fail‑first protocols for insulin. Committee action: passed as amended; sponsors said carriers currently do not impose step therapy for insulin but the bill prevents future imposition.
- House Bill 974: Preventive Services Enforcement Authority. Committee action: passed as amended. The bill directs the insurance commissioner to enforce preventive service coverage without cost sharing consistent with federal rules and guidance in effect on Dec. 31, 2024; amendments specify relevant federal guideline sources and allow later regulations to expand preventive services.
- House Bill 1045: Family planning services and consumer protection updates. Committee action: passed as amended. An amendment broadened the statute's privacy protections to cover "sensitive health services," explicitly listing abortion care, reproductive health and "other sensitive services" as determined by the secretary, to shield gender‑affirming care information; the amendment passed after discussion. Recorded committee opposition was noted for several delegates.
- House Bill 1082: State‑based health insurance subsidies program (individual market stabilization). Committee action: passed as amended. The bill directs MHBE, in consultation with the insurance commissioner, to establish state subsidies designed to offset a potential reduction in federal premium tax credits; amendments extend the program from one to two years, permit consideration of reinsurance funding in eligibility and set an effective date of June 1. The committee noted the amendment was unanimous in subcommittee.
- House Bill 1334: Garrett County — bids and contracts advertisement exceptions. Committee action: passed. The bill allows Garrett County to enter into on‑call or as‑needed contracts without advertising for bids and allows vehicle purchases up to $100,000 without advertisement. Committee discussion sought clarification on local procurement accountability; witnesses said Garrett County purchasing policy still requires three written bids for purchases over $5,000 and director approval for purchases over $10,000.
Withdrawals and holds: Committee recorded two withdrawals at the start of the session and moved others to hold (House Bill 32 was held pending outstanding information). Where the transcript recorded named oppositions during votes, those names are noted above.
