Time to ask what’s getting left undone in the General Assembly: Rent relief and access to care

Maryland’s leaders are looking the other way on the question of shelter affordability. Who benefits? Greedy landlords.  

And Maryland's leaders are ignoring over a quarter-million Marylanders whose immigration status makes it hard-to-impossib le for them to qualify for health care.

Find out about these holes in the process -- and more -- in News You Can Use from Progressive Maryland...

You can contrast the Moore-Miller administration's wish list -- excuse us, goals list -- with how much they'll be getting from two legislative chambers that may be making a tough transition from the Hogan era -- difficulty taking "yes" for an answer, jealously guarding their prerogatives and inefficient methods.

And we have more from around the states and the DC scene. Read on for News You Can Use.

Progressive Maryland is deeply concerned by the Maryland General Assembly’s refusal to include Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) in the FY24 budget. This decision will harm over 100,000 Maryland families who are behind on rent. We are demanding our legislators turn this around and continue to fund the ERA program so we can keep Marylanders housed. We are urging our members to share their story about facing eviction to help persuade our elected officials and are asking the press to help keep up the pressure too by covering this urgent issue.

Today is a significant day in the state's legislative calendar! It's Crossover Day in the General Assembly, which means that any bills that haven't passed out of their original chamber by the time lawmakers adjourn this evening, no longer have a chance of becoming state law this session. We've been tracking committee and floor votes closely to see which bills will still have a path forward when voting wraps up. We expect some success on a number of healthcare bills we’re supporting along with some disappointments when it comes to other priority bills including drug reform and renewable energy policies. Read on for updates and actions you can take today to support progressive legislation and build a more just future for our state and communities!

In solidarity, 

The Progressive Maryland Team

It's Crossover Day -- today -- in the Maryland General Assembly. Just like many Assembly events and practices, it is totally made up to make legislating for the benefit of working people look more complicated than it really is, and to give lobbyists and the legislators that they have a piece of more chances to cripple good bills. It is the way of the world, and keeps corporate power IN power unless everyday folks take a hand. We'll keep trying.

Meanwhile see what hard-working reporters are doing to make sense out of this. It's News You Can Use.

TW: suicide, depression, transphobia, transgender genocide, forced detransitioning, abuse, deportation, kidnapping, coercion and grooming

Transgender people deserve to live a full life. Unfortunately, Eden Knight, a 23-year old Saudi Arabian transgender woman who was trafficked and forced to detransition, will never be able to.

Eden’s friends have published a document telling her story, including her final message where she described the events leading up to her passing. 

Eden was living in the US while she was attending school, and came out as transgender while she was living here. She was contacted by a man named Michael Pocalyko and his associate Ellen, who claimed he could “fix” the relationship between herself and her family, who she describes as “strict conservative Muslims”, who disagreed with her transition. 

Over time, Michael and Ellen connected her with a Saudi lawyer named Bader, who groomed her to detransition, to hide that she was transgender, and to get her to be, in Eden’s words, “normal”. At some point, Eden realized that she was reliant on Bader for food and shelter, and that since she was still seeking immigration status, that he could easily have her deported. 

Bader booked her a flight back to Saudi Arabia, and Eden returned to her family who then revealed that they had hired Michael, Ellen, and Bader to bring her back. She was entrapped, verbally and religiously abused, and searched daily, with her gender-affirming healthcare taken away from her. As a result of this, Eden ended her own life to escape from it. Her family put up a post on social media confirming this, complete with misgendering and misnaming Eden. She didn’t get to be her true self to her family, even in death. 

Eden was loved. Eden was full of purpose. Eden was worthy. Eden deserved better than this, to live a full life and to grow old. And yet, none of that saved her from the people around her that harmed her. 

Transgender genocide is real. It’s even more real to our most vulnerable communities, including transgender people of color and transgender immigrants like Eden. There have been 465 anti-transgender bills introduced this year alone. These bills primarily target transgender people in areas such as healthcare, nondiscrimination laws, free speech, sports participation, public accommodations, and education. This legislative assault seeks to erase transgender people from society, taking away legal protections, medically necessary care, and breaking up families. 

This is why gender-affirming healthcare can be lifesaving for transgender people. Eden is heartbreakingly a representative of the catchphrase, “death before detransition”. For many transgender people, forced detransition is a death sentence. Transgender people deserve respect – not laws, contracted entities, and systemic violence forcing them back into the closet and denying them access to crucial and life-saving medical care. 

We remember the transgender people our society has failed, but we will not let their deaths be in vain. May this be the catalyst that sparks your righteous fury, prompting you to mobilize, to resist, and to rally others.

WRITTEN TESTIMONY on HB0329
Public Health-Commission on Universal Healthcare

FAVORABLE

Madam Chair and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for your work and consideration of a number of important healthcare matters during this current legislative session. At Progressive Maryland we appreciate your efforts to expand  healthcare coverage and access, to address the growing crisis of medical debt, and to reign in soaring drug prices.

Many of the problems that everyday Marylanders face when it comes to getting medical treatment, buying prescription drugs, and finding a provider stem from our hard to navigate, confusing and ever changing healthcare system. As you know our system relies heavily on the insurance industry and employer provided insurance. But healthcare costs are skyrocketing for employers and individual policyholders while insurance company profits and CEO compensation are breaking records. This unfortunately has been the case for many years during, coming out of, and well before the global pandemic.

The high cost of premiums, co-pays, and out-of-pocket costs are draining individual and family budgets. The number of insurance company claim denials is mounting every day, putting a growing number of patients and families at great risk. It’s time for a change.
Progressive Maryland, along with our community partners in the End Medical Debt campaign held a speakout on Lawyer’s Mall. Most of the stories that people shared about their struggles with getting healthcare came down to being denied care somewhere in the system(even when having a “good” policy) and/or being unable to afford health insurance. It’s time to look at moving away from our reliance on private insurance. HB 0329: Public Health-Commission on Universal Healthcare gives Maryland a way to explore just how we can do that.

HB 0329 will give us a chance to look at alternatives and options by studying how a single payer system might work and be organized. Hundreds of favorable studies, reports, and reviews,including from government agencies, exist about a single payer model. It’s time to harness that data and information to examine the benefits we could realize and to explore what’s possible. There’s little expense required to engage a Commission and this process. Any time and resources spent on the Commission and its work will be well worth it given the positive outcomes we could see.

Relying on a more efficient single payer model to deliver healthcare to folks makes sense. It means a much greater percentage of the money we spend as a state would go to the actual care and treatment people need, and not to pay for all the bloated costs and inefficiencies in the private insurance sector.

On behalf of Progressive Maryland’s thousands of individual members across the state, our regional chapters and our Healthcare Task Force I urge you to pass HB0329. We believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right. It’s time to make a real commitment to guaranteeing that right and the Commission’s work is a critical way to get started.

Please vote yes for this bill.

Thank you.

Patty Snee
[email protected]
Progressive Maryland Lead Healthcare Organizer
Takoma Park, MD

The people, the stories, the chants, the energy! We brought it Monday to Annapolis at our healthcare justice rally on Lawyer’s Mall. Thanks to you and our coalition partners we showed our strength as patients, organizers, and everyday community members who want healthcare for all. Thanks to EVERYONE who helped make this speak out so successful! On the virtual side Mike was our camera man, live streaming the event.  Bee, Erica, and Ashley created a  welcoming space for the virtual participants.  

At the State House PM’s Healthcare Task Force leaders shared their stories, talked to the press, bonded with other attendees, and led our lobby visits with our lawmakers before the event. Thank you Crystal, David, Syl, Peter and Susan. 

Crossover Day is one week away, and it's a crucial day in the Maryland Legislature. Crossover Day is the deadline by which bills introduced in one chamber of the legislature must cross over to the other chamber in order to remain eligible for consideration during the current legislative session. In other words, if a bill doesn't make it through one chamber and into the other by the end of Crossover Day, it's unlikely to become law this year. We have 7 days to ensure progressive legislation continues moving forward this session! 

We’ll be working hard this week to urge lawmakers to support bills that will benefit working Marylanders and we want you to join us! Today, we’re hosting a Healthcare Justice Rally in Annapolis and virtually. Check out our event’s section for more information.

Now is the time to make your voice heard! Contact your elected representatives and let them know which bills matter most to you, and urge them to support these bills before Crossover Day arrives. You can find easy tools to contact your representatives and more calls to actions in our task forces and local chapters sections of the memo.  

Let's make sure that the most important issues facing our state get the attention and consideration they deserve during this year's legislative session.