HC Current Session

Healthcare Reform and the 2026 Session

Budget-
Monitoring to Protect funding for the Maryland Medicaid program and the Health Benefit Exchange

HB 372/SB 169- Emergency Pregnancy-Related Conditions

Hospitals are required to evaluate a patient presenting at an emergency department of the hospital to determine whether the patient has an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition, and treat - including to allow the termination of a pregnancy when medically necessary to stabilize the patient.

SB 626 - Certificates of Birth, Licenses, and Identification Cards - Sex Designation (Birth Certificate Modernization Act)

This bill has several functions that are vitally important, particularly to transgender Marylanders and their children. Passage would:

Enable transgender parents to prove they are related to their own children after they have been granted an order of legal name change through the Maryland Courts.
Allow Transgender Marylanders to have a gender marker of "X" on their birth certificates.
Ease the cost and logistical burdens of obtaining accurate and matching documents.

Subject	Bill Number	XFile Bill Number	Sponsor	Title	Status	Current Location	Priority	Position	Action	Synopsis
Birth Certificate Modernization	SB0626		Senator Lam	Certificates of Birth, Licenses, and Identification Cards - Sex Designation (Birth Certificate Modernization Act)	First Reading Finance and Judicial Proceedings	Finance	Priority	Support	Contact your Senator on Committee	Altering the circumstances under which the Secretary of Health is required to make a new certificate of birth due to the change of a sex designation of an individual; establishing requirements and a prohibition related to the making of new certificates of birth; and altering the options for indicating an individual's sex designation on a license, identification card, or moped operator's permit issued by the Motor Vehicle Administration.
Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising	HB0484		Delegate Ziegler	Corporate Income Tax - Addition Modification - Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising	Hearing 2/12 at 1:00 p.m.	Ways and Means	Priority	Support	Contact your Delegate on Committee	Providing an addition modification under the corporate income tax for the amount of certain direct-to-consumer advertising expenses for certain covered drugs paid or incurred during the taxable year that are deducted under the Internal Revenue Code; and applying the Act to all taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.
Emergency Pregnancy-Related Conditions	SB0169	HB0372	Senator Lam	Hospitals - Emergency Pregnancy-Related Medical Conditions - Procedures	Second Reading Passed	Senate Floor (3rd Reading)	Priority	Support	Contact your Senator	Requiring a hospital to conduct screening on a patient presenting at an emergency department of the hospital to determine whether the patient has an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition; establishing requirements and prohibitions related to the treatment and transfer of a patient who has an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition; requiring a hospital to allow the termination of a pregnancy in certain circumstances; etc.
Emergency Pregnancy-Related Conditions	HB0372	SB0169	Delegate Lopez	Hospitals - Emergency Pregnancy-Related Medical Conditions - Procedures	Hearing 2/11 at 1:30 p.m.	Health	Priority	Support	Contact your Delegate on Committee	Requiring a hospital to conduct screening on a patient presenting at an emergency department of the hospital to determine whether the patient has an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition; establishing requirements and prohibitions related to the treatment and transfer of a patient who has an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition; requiring a hospital to allow the termination of a pregnancy in certain circumstances; etc.
Hormone Therapy for Minors	HB0679		Delegate Arikan	Health Occupations - Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy for Minors	Hearing 2/18 at 1:30 p.m.	Health	Priority	Oppose	Contact your Delegate on Committee	Prohibiting a licensed health care practitioner from prescribing, dispensing, or administering a cross-sex hormone or otherwise providing cross-sex hormone therapy for the treatment of a mental health diagnoses associated with gender nonconformity, including gender dysphoria, to an individual who is a minor.
Abortion - Heartbeat Bill	HB0049		Delegate Metzgar	Public Health - Abortion (Heartbeat Bill)	First Reading Health	Health		Oppose		Requiring that an abortion be performed by a physician, rather than a qualified provider; repealing certain provisions of law related to State interference with an abortion, regulations related to abortion, and liability or criminal punishment for qualified providers who perform an abortion; prohibiting a physician from knowingly performing, inducing, or attempting to perform or induce an abortion under certain circumstances and subject to certain exceptions; etc.
Abortion Data Reporting to CDC	HB0714		Delegate Grammer	Health - Abortion Data - Submission to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention	First Reading Health	Health		Oppose		Requiring the Maryland Department of Health to submit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention any data regarding abortion requested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unless submitting the data would violate federal or State law.
Assisted Reproductive Treatment-Fraud	HB0209		Delegate Allen	Health Care Providers - Assisted Reproductive Treatment - Informed Consent and Fraud	Unfavorable Report by Health; Withdrawn	Withdrawn		Oppose	Bill Withdrawn	Prohibiting a health care provider from using the health care provider's human reproductive material when providing assisted reproductive treatment without the consent of the recipient of the treatment; prohibiting a health care provider from using a donor's human reproductive material to provide assisted reproductive treatment without the donor's informed consent or in a manner that is inconsistent with the donor's consent; etc.
Causing Ingestion of Abortion-Inducing Drug	HB0885		Delegate Nkongolo	Criminal Law - Causing Ingestion of an Abortion-Inducing Drug - Prohibition (Women's Freedom From Coercion Act)	Hearing 2/17 at 1:00 p.m. (Judiciary)	Judiciary		Oppose		Prohibiting a person from knowingly and willfully causing another to ingest an abortion-inducing drug when the person knows or believes that the other person is pregnant and without consent, through fraud or coercion, or by force or threat of force.
Causing Ingestion of Abortion-Inducing Drug	SB0302		Senator Carozza	Criminal Law - Causing Ingestion of an Abortion-Inducing Drug - Prohibition (Women's Freedom From Coercion Act)	Hearing 2/05 at 1:00 p.m.	Judicial Proceedings		Oppose		Prohibiting a person from knowingly and willfully causing another to ingest an abortion-inducing drug when the person knows or believes that the other person is pregnant and without consent, through fraud or coercion, or by force or threat of force.
Claims for Reimbursement - Downcoding	SB0797		Senator Lam	Maryland Medical Assistance Program and Health Insurance - Claims for Reimbursement - Downcoding	First Reading Finance	Finance				Prohibiting insurers, nonprofit health service plans, health maintenance organizations, and managed care organization from downcoding a claim for reimbursement under certain circumstances; establishing certain procedures that insurers, nonprofit health service plans, health maintenance organizations, and managed care organizations are required to follow if the insurer, nonprofit health service plan, or health maintenance organization intends or makes a final decision to downcode a claim; etc.
Confidentiality - Crisis Pregnancy Clinics	SB0563	HB0615	Senator Gile	Health Facilities - Confidentiality of Medical Records - Crisis Pregnancy Clinics	Hearing 2/19 at 1:00 p.m.	Finance				Applying certain provisions of law governing the confidentiality of medical records to crisis pregnancy clinics.
Confidentiality - Crisis Pregnancy Clinics	HB0615	SB0563	Delegate Cullison	Health Facilities - Confidentiality of Medical Records - Crisis Pregnancy Clinics	Hearing 2/18 at 1:30 p.m.	Health				Applying certain provisions of law governing the confidentiality of medical records to crisis pregnancy clinics.
Confidentiality of Medical Records	HB0316		Delegate Kaufman	Confidentiality of Medical Records - Definition of Medical Record	Hearing 2/03 at 3:00 p.m.	Health		Support		Altering the definition of 'medical record' for purposes of law governing the confidentiality of medical records to require that certain information be recorded by a health care provider through certain means, instead of entered into the record of a patient or recipient, and to include certain electronic messages.
Consumer Protections - Health Care Financing	SB0796		Senator Lam	Commercial Law - Consumer Protections - Health Care Financing	First Reading Finance	Finance				Establishing consumer protections related to health care financing, including disclosure and refund requirements; prohibiting health care providers and certain agents of health care providers from offering, obtaining, applying, assisting in applying for certain financing; prohibiting a health care provider from promoting certain financing to certain patients or billing a certain financier before a certain number of days prior to a procedure; etc.
Coverage-UR - Drugs Reviewed by PDAB	SB0837		Senator Ready	Maryland Medical Assistance Program and Health Insurance - Coverage and Utilization Review - Drugs Reviewed by the Prescription Drug Affordability Board	First Reading Finance	Finance		Oppose		Prohibiting a managed care organization and certain insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations from requiring a prior authorization or step therapy or fail-first protocol under certain circumstances for prescription drugs that have been reviewed by the Prescription Drug Affordability Board; etc.
Discipline of Providers-Court Actions	SB0083		Senator Simonaire	Health Occupations - Grounds for Discipline - Federal and Court Actions	Second Reading Passed	Senate Floor (3rd Reading)				Altering the grounds for discipline by certain health occupations boards to include being disciplined by any branch of the uniformed services or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and altering the grounds for discipline of a naturopathic doctor by the State Board of Physicians to include being convicted or disciplined by a court of any state or country.
Fraud - Assisted Reproductive Treatment	HB0645		Delegate Allen	Criminal Law - Fraud - Assisted Reproductive Treatment	Hearing 2/10 at 1:00 p.m.	Judiciary				Prohibiting a person from intentionally or knowingly providing certain assisted reproductive treatment to another using the person's sperm or ovum without the other's consent to assisted reproductive treatment using the person's sperm or ovum; and establishing a civil cause of action for a violation of the Act.
Health Care Quality Stakeholder Advisory Council	SB0240	HB0965	Senator Lewis Young	Office of Health Care Quality Stakeholder Advisory Council - Establishment	Hearing 2/03 at 2:00 p.m.	Finance				Establishing the Office of Health Care Quality Stakeholder Advisory Council to provide feedback to the Office of Health Care Quality regarding maintaining oversight of health care facilities and to notify the Secretary of Health if the Office is negligent in providing oversight of health care facilities; and requiring the Advisory Council, beginning in 2027, and by December 1 annually, to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly.
Health Insurance - Access to Abortion Care	SB0785	HB1179	Senator Guzzone	Public Health and Health Insurance - Access to Abortion Care - Reporting Requirements	First Reading Finance	Finance				Requiring that the annual report on the Abortion Care Clinical Training Program include certain recommendations; and requiring the Maryland Insurance Commissioner to collect certain data on certain segregated accounts established under the federal Affordable Care Act and certain federal regulations from certain insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations and submit a certain report to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Health Committee on or before January 1 each year.
Medicaid - Drug Dispensing Costs	SB0839		Senator Ready	Medical Assistance Programs - Drug Dispensing - Cost-of-Dispensing Survey and Fee-for-Service Professional Dispensing Fee	First Reading Finance	Finance				Requiring, beginning in 2026, the Maryland Department of Health to conduct the in-State cost-of-dispensing survey at least every 3 years; and requiring, within 6 months after the completion of the survey, the Department to adopt regulations establishing a fee-for-service professional dispensing fee based on the results of the survey.
Nonprofit Organizations Navigator	SB0069	HB0147	Senator Kagan	Nonprofit Organizations Navigator - Termination Provision - Repeal	Hearing 1/29 at 3:00 p.m.	Finance				Repealing a termination provision relating to provisions of law establishing a nonprofit organizations navigator within the Department of Commerce; etc.
Nonprofit Organizations Navigator	HB0147	SB0069	Delegate Guzzone	Nonprofit Organizations Navigator - Termination Provision - Repeal	Hearing 1/27 at 2:00 p.m.	Government, Labor, and Elections				Repealing a termination provision relating to provisions of law establishing a nonprofit organizations navigator within the Department of Commerce.
Over-the-Counter Contraception - Access	SB0532	HB1076	Senator Kagan	Higher Education Institutions - Over-the-Counter Contraception - Access and Reporting	Hearing 3/11 at 1:00 p.m.	Education, Energy, and the Environment				Requiring each public senior higher education institution and community college to submit a report on contraception access to the Maryland Higher Education Commission each year; requiring the Commission to submit a report on contraception access to the General Assembly each year; and requiring each community college to provide students with access to all methods of over-the-counter contraception.
Over-the-Counter Contraception - Access	HB1076	SB0532	Delegate Smith	Higher Education Institutions - Over-the-Counter Contraception - Access and Reporting	First Reading Appropriations and Health	Appropriations				Requiring each public senior higher education institution and community college to submit a report on contraception access to the Maryland Higher Education Commission each year; requiring the Commission to submit a report on contraception access to the General Assembly each year beginning October 1, 2026; and requiring each community college to provide students with access to all methods of over-the-counter contraception.
Prescription Drug Monitoring-Data Disclosure	HB1045		Delegate Cullison	Prescription Drug Monitoring Program - Data Disclosure to Federal Law Enforcement - Limitation	First Reading Health	Health				Altering the circumstances under which the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program is required to disclose prescription monitoring data to a federal law enforcement agency to prohibit the disclosure if the Protected Health Care Commission determines that the data is sensitive health services information that has been determined by the Secretary of Health to be legally protected health care.
Regulation of Insurers and Vision Benefit Managers	SB0795		Senator Lam	Health Insurance - Vision Benefits - Regulation of Insurers and Vision Benefit Managers	First Reading Finance	Finance				Establishing requirements for certain vision benefits, vision benefit plans, and vision benefit discount plans; requiring an insurer or a vision benefit manager to disclose certain information on its website and in certain communications and maintain certain methods of communication for use by participating eye care providers; establishing certain requirements and prohibitions for contracts between insurers or vision benefit managers and participating eye care providers; etc.
Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelics	SB0336	HB0427	Senator Feldman	Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances - Extension	Hearing 2/12 at 1:00 p.m.	Finance				Extending to December 31, 2027, the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances to study and make recommendations related to the use of natural psychedelic substances; and requiring the Task Force to submit an updated report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before October 31, 2026.
Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelics	HB0427	SB0336	Delegate Guzzone	Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances - Extension	Hearing 2/10 at 2:30 p.m.	Health				Extending to December 31, 2027, the Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances to study and make recommendations related to the use of natural psychedelic substances; and requiring the Task Force to submit an updated report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before October 31, 2026.
SHOP Enrollment	HB0273	SB0014	Chair, Health Committee	Health Insurance - Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Enrollment - Effective Dates	Second Reading Passed	House Floor (3rd Reading)				Altering the effective dates of enrollment in a Small Business Health Options (SHOP) Exchange plan for individuals who enroll during certain special enrollment periods.
SHOP Enrollment	SB0014	HB0273	Chair, Finance Committee	Health Insurance - Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Enrollment - Effective Dates	Second Reading Passed	Senate Floor (3rd Reading)				Altering the effective dates of enrollment in a Small Business Health Options (SHOP) Exchange plan for individuals who enroll during certain special enrollment periods; etc.
Special Enrollment Period for Pregnancy	SB0794		Senator Lam	Health Insurance - Special Enrollment Period for Pregnancy - Coverage Effective Date	First Reading Finance	Finance				Authorizing an individual who enrolls for coverage or enrolls a dependent for coverage during a certain special enrollment period for pregnancy to choose a certain date option on which the coverage will become effective; and requiring the carrier, if the individual fails to select the effective date, to select a certain date option.
Vaccinations-recommendations/coverage	SB0385	HB0637	President	Public Health - Recommendations for Immunizations, Screenings, and Preventive Services - Pharmacist Administration and Required Health Insurance Coverage (The Vax Act)	Hearing 2/10 at 1:00 p.m.	Finance		Support		Requiring the Secretary of Health to issue recommendations for certain immunizations, screenings, and preventive services based on certain evidence-based scientific and clinical guidance; altering the authority of pharmacists to administer certain vaccinations; altering the health insurance coverage requirements for certain immunizations, screenings, and preventive services; and repealing obsolete language regarding the pertussis vaccine.
Vaccinations-recommendations/coverage	HB0637	SB0385	Speaker	Public Health - Recommendations for Immunizations, Screenings, and Preventive Services - Pharmacist Administration and Required Health Insurance Coverage (The Vax Act)	Hearing 2/26 at 1:00 p.m.	Health		Support		Requiring the Secretary of Health to issue recommendations for certain immunizations, screenings, and preventive services based on certain evidence-based scientific and clinical guidance; altering the authority of pharmacists to administer certain vaccinations; altering the health insurance coverage requirements for certain immunizations, screenings, and preventive services; and repealing obsolete language regarding the pertussis vaccine.
Youth Psychiatric Rehab Parity	HB0071		Delegate Sample-Hughes	Maryland Medical Assistance Program - Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program Services - Reimbursement (Youth Psychiatric Rehabilitation Parity Act of 2026)	Hearing canceled	Health				Requiring the Maryland Department of Health to adopt regulations requiring the Maryland Medical Assistance Program to reimburse a psychiatric rehabilitation program for a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 30 psychiatric rehabilitation community psychiatric support services delivered to certain individuals each month.

Almost All Priority Measures Introduced and Some Advancing

Read Full Digest Here: February 9, 2026 Digest With the Senate deadline to file bills on Monday, February 9 (today), and the House deadline on Friday, February 13, a few more priority bills were introduced last week. Any bills introduced after these deadlines will be referred to the chambers’ respective Rules Committees, requiring a vote of those bodies before referral to a standing committee. Late bills are less likely to get a hearing during the session since a third of the

Ashley Egan

1 day ago3 min read

Priority Bills Introduced and Hearings Scheduled

Read Full Newsletter Here: Feb. 2, 2026 Digest Over the weekend we had our 20th Annual Legislative Kickoff; out of an abundance of caution, the event was held virtually. While Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd had enthusiastically accepted our request to be our Keynote speaker, she had to pull out due to a house fire the weekend before the kickoff. Rev. Dr. Fred Muir, who was leading the centering and worship, did an incredible job explaining UULM-MD's origin story and humble beginni