Family Child Care Providers - Reserve Component Members - Substitute Provider
House Bill 430 would amend Maryland’s Employed Individuals with Disabilities (EID) Program to prohibit the Maryland Department of Health from setting an upper age limit for eligibility. The bill keeps the existing EID framework in place and specifically adds age to the list of factors the Department may not use to restrict access to services. The program itself is part of Maryland Medical Assistance and provides health care services to employed individuals with disabilities.
Under current law, the Department already may not limit EID eligibility based on income, certain spousal assets, retirement assets, or independence account assets, and may not require certain applicants to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits as a condition of eligibility. HB0430 would extend those protections by ensuring that older participants cannot be excluded solely because of age. The bill takes effect October 1, 2025.
The bill would amend Section 15-138 of the Health-General Article in the Annotated Code of Maryland by adding a new prohibition on age-based eligibility limits for the EID Program. This would constrain the Maryland Department of Health’s rulemaking and administrative discretion, ensuring that the program remains available to eligible employed individuals with disabilities regardless of age. The practical effect would be to protect continued access to Medicaid-related health coverage for older workers with disabilities who meet the program’s other requirements.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the measure appears to be straightforward and policy-focused, with an apparent intent to expand or preserve access to health coverage for people with disabilities. The bill’s structure suggests a generally supportive posture toward removing barriers to participation in the EID Program. No contrary arguments, amendments, or recorded opposition are included in the provided context.
The main policy issue is whether the Employed Individuals with Disabilities Program should have any upper age cap at all. Supporters would likely argue that age should not be used to deny health coverage to working people with disabilities, especially since the program already excludes other financial and administrative barriers. Any opposition would likely center on program cost, eligibility expansion, or whether the EID Program should remain targeted to a narrower population, but no specific objections are documented in the provided materials.