Maryland Medicaid (HealthChoice) & MCHP

Maryland Medicaid is free health coverage for low-income adults, children, pregnant residents, older adults, and people with disabilities. About one in four Marylanders is covered. Covered care is free: doctor visits, prescriptions, hospital and emergency services, and pregnancy care all come at no cost to the enrollee. Apply any time at Maryland Health Connection, or call 1-855-642-8572.

There is no open-enrollment deadline. Unlike private marketplace plans, Medicaid and the children's program take applications year-round, so a lost job or a new baby is always a reason to apply, whatever the last answer was. You do not have to be a parent or disabled; the expansion covers low-income adults generally.

Most enrollees get care through a HealthChoice managed care organization, an MCO, that they choose during enrollment. Maryland has nine of them, so part of enrolling is picking a plan and a doctor.

Children have their own door. The Maryland Children's Health Program, MCHP, gives free full coverage to uninsured children whose family earns too much for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. A child must live in Maryland, be a citizen or qualified non-citizen, be under 19, and have no other insurance. Here is the part that matters most: a child may qualify even when the parents do not, because eligibility is assessed per person.

Pregnancy coverage is broad. Pregnant residents who are not U.S. citizens can get free care from the start of pregnancy through four months postpartum, so a pregnancy is always worth an application.

One application at Maryland Health Connection checks the whole household, and a denial for one person decides nothing about the others. While it processes, 2-1-1 can point you to community health centers, and the same low income often qualifies the household for the Food Supplement Program.