AFT Healthcare-Maryland reports that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget includes a significant increase in the state’s Healthcare costs. The governor’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which begins July 1 of this year, includes $10.4 billion for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene—an increase of 4 percent or $397.6 million more than that provided in F.Y. 2013. Of those funds, $54 million are directed to fund rate increases for healthcare providers, $42 million to a 2.5 percent increase for community service providers, $8 million to raise rates for psychiatrists, and $30 million for a pilot chronic “health homes” program.
Created under the federal Affordable Care Act, health homes help doctors and other care providers better coordinate health management plans for patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, obesity or heart disease. AFT-Healthcare –Maryland also notes that the 3 percent increase the union negotiated for its members last year is retained in the governor’s budget.