http://wjz.com/localstories/local_story_191112551.html


Immigrant Health Care Hearings Planned 11:25AM

Jul 10, 2005 11:22 am US/Eastern
Annapolis, MD (WJZ) Hearings are planned on the state's decision to cut Medicaid benefits for nearly four-thousand legal immigrants.

Democrats say the move may ultimately cost the health care system more than it saves.

Governor Robert Ehrlich is trying to curb Medicaid costs.

In January, he proposed eliminating seven million dollars in annual funding for coverage of pregnant women and children classified as permanent legal residents for fewer than five years. Those cuts started to take effect July first.

S- Anthony McCann, Ehrlich's health secretary, says most of Ehrlich's proposed savings were included in the budget approved by the Democrat-led General Assembly in April.

He says the changes bring Maryland in line with most other states' policies.