Maryland Senate passes bill allowing undocumented immigrants to purchase health insurance [Baltimore Sun]

After shelving the policy last year, the Maryland Senate passed legislation Friday that would allow undocumented residents to apply to purchase health insurance through the state.

“This is about reducing [the] cost for all of us,” Senate Budget and Taxation Vice Chair Jim Rosapepe, a Democrat who represents portions of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties, said while explaining his vote. “All of us.”

The bill, which passed out of the House chamber before stalling in the Senate Finance Committee in 2023, was approved on a vote of 34-13 on Friday.

Sponsored by Democratic Sens. Antonio Hayes of Baltimore City and Clarence Lam, who represents portions of Anne Arundel and Howard counties, Senate Bill 705 would give undocumented Marylanders the ability to purchase private health care coverage through the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, and use the portal’s insurance navigators to help them choose a plan in the language they speak most comfortably.

The ability to stand up the new Qualified Resident Enrollment Program would hinge upon the approval of a federal waiver by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore City Democrat, said at a news conference Friday that a few other states, including Washington state, have been approved so far.

Ferguson said the program would not begin for “at least a year” and would have to be put in place ahead of the open-enrollment period in November and December if Maryland is approved to establish the program by the federal government.

Under the bill, undocumented residents would not be eligible to apply for coverage through the Maryland Health Benefit exchange if they currently qualify for the federal advanced premium tax credit or coverage under Medicaid, Medicare or the Maryland Children’s Health Program, or if they receive coverage through their job. Incarcerated people also would not qualify for the program.

The House version of the bill, sponsored by Health and Government Operations Committee Chair Bonnie Cullison, a Montgomery County Democrat, was approved by the House last month.

The 2023 bill didn’t make it to the Senate floor because former Senate Finance Committee Chair Melony Griffith was concerned that the state would have been required to use available federal funding to provide subsidies under the program.

That measure was stricken from the 2024 bill, which would only provide undocumented immigrants the ability to utilize the exchange. They would have to pay the full price for insurance coverage.

“This is different than how a Maryland citizen would have access to Medicaid or Medicare subsidies,” Ferguson said Friday morning.

Friday’s debate on the bill was brief and revolved largely around U.S. border policy.

In explaining his vote against the bill, Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready, a Republican representing portions of Carroll and Frederick counties, said that immigration policy should be handled by the federal government. He also argued that Maryland shouldn’t continue to pass policies that make it “much more attractive for people to come here who should not be in the country.”

“If we were able to have secure borders and much more confidence in the system that removes people that shouldn’t be here [and] gives people a path to have a reason to be here … I think a lot of us would be much more sympathetic in trying to find ways to help people who are making their way,” Ready said.

Lam countered that having more insured Marylanders is good for everyone.

“I think this bill is really important for people that wouldn’t otherwise have care to be able to access care,” he said. “People don’t come here to our state or to our nation just to buy health insurance.”

The bill needs to be approved by the House chamber before it reaches the governor’s desk. There is one month left in Maryland’s 90-day legislative session.

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