Governor's race turns attention to health care

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Health care was the issue of the day in Maryland's governor's race last week.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican seeking re-election, announced a program that provides government-funded health care to an additional 30,000 poor Marylanders.

"Improving the health of Marylanders has been a central priority of my administration from Day One," Mr. Ehrlich said during a visit last Monday to Jai Medical Center in Baltimore -- home turf of his Democratic rival for governor, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley.

"By dramatically expanding health care coverage for vulnerable citizens, we are building on our considerable successes in making Maryland a better and healthier place to live," Mr. Ehrlich said. "Since we took office, we have expanded access to health care to 94,000 additional Marylanders in need."

The Primary Adult Care program, which is paid for with state and federal funds, covers primary-care physician office visits, prescription drugs, outpatient mental health care and other limited health services for qualifying persons. The program does not cover specialty care, hospital care or emergency-room visits.

Meanwhile, Mr. O'Malley was in nearby Baltimore County that same day promising that, if elected governor, he would address the projected shortage of nurses in the state.

"We have to make sure that patient care is guided by common sense, is guided by knowledge, is guided by the nurses and doctors and not by big corporate profit lines," he said. "Investing in our people, investing in our nurses, that is how we make the way forward."

The state will suffer a shortage of nearly 13,000 nurses by 2010, according to the Center for Health Workforce Development at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

Mr. O'Malley promised more nursing-school scholarships, more scholarships to train nursing-school teachers and plans to give nurses better pay and staffing policies at hospitals.

He also picked up the endorsement of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, one of Maryland's most liberal Democrats and an outspoken harbinger of the nursing shortfall.