Health care reform passes: Overhaul won't mean quick fix for uninsured

Gloria Brennan, of Owings Mills, says her insurer dropped her without explanation and that she was diagnosed with <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="HEDAI000008" title="Arthritis" href="/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/arthritis-HEDAI000008.topic">arthritis</a> before she could find new coverage. These syringes are part of her rheumatoid arthritis treatment. She was able to get care through a Hopkins medical study until she qualified for Medicare.<br>
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A day after the historic vote in Congress to overhaul the nation's health care system, local patients and their advocates cheered the legislation and said they were already looking ahead to the extension of coverage to 600,000 uninsured Marylanders.<br>
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While some benefits kick in right away, the provisions enabling most lower-income people to get insurance won't become available until 2014. That has left the states to decide whether they will add people to the rolls early, or if they will seek to opt out of the federal requirements. <a class="taxInlineTagLink" id="PLGEO100100600000000" title="Maryland" href="/topic/us/maryland-PLGEO100100600000000.topic">Maryland</a> has worked to expand coverage in recent years, but it's not clear how much further the cash-strapped state is willing to go.

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( COLBY WARE, BALTIMORE SUN / March 22, 2010 )

Gloria Brennan, of Owings Mills, says her insurer dropped her without explanation and that she was diagnosed with arthritis before she could find new coverage. These syringes are part of her rheumatoid arthritis treatment. She was able to get care through a Hopkins medical study until she qualified for Medicare.

A day after the historic vote in Congress to overhaul the nation's health care system, local patients and their advocates cheered the legislation and said they were already looking ahead to the extension of coverage to 600,000 uninsured Marylanders.

While some benefits kick in right away, the provisions enabling most lower-income people to get insurance won't become available until 2014. That has left the states to decide whether they will add people to the rolls early, or if they will seek to opt out of the federal requirements. Maryland has worked to expand coverage in recent years, but it's not clear how much further the cash-strapped state is willing to go.