Here in Maryland, we recognize our health care system’s unique ability to rein in total spending and strengthen whole-person care.

We as a field have made strides demonstrating the value of the Maryland Model. As we approach important milestones in the effort to gain extension of our contract with the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), we are committed to doing even more to communicate its benefits.

As CMMI’s evaluation contractor, Mathematica Policy Research, begins their fieldwork, it’s heartening to know others see the value. A recent article suggests other states may want to consider modeling their own health care reforms after Maryland. It cites the favorable review of the 2014-2018 All-Payer Model by RTI International among other things. The author, Merrill Goozner, a former editor of Modern Healthcare, says our Model could be an attractive alternative for advocates of universal coverage.

“Elected leaders in states considering a local public option to achieve universal coverage at affordable rates might want to consider applying for a federal waiver that would allow them to set up their own version of Maryland’s all-payer/global budgeting system,” Goozner notes. “Single-payer and public option advocates should also consider throwing their growing political clout behind a reform that has the potential to achieve many of their most cherished goals.”

As CMMI prepares to decide on the Model’s future, we’ll need many voices to tout our successes and talk about the Model’s promise of even better things to come. As the article states, our Model has “the potential to build a winning political coalition.”

That is exactly what we need.

Bob Atlas
President & CEO