The price of a drug that has saved the lives of more than 800 people overdosing on heroin or other opioids in Baltimore is rising rapidly.

"We shouldn't be priced out of saving lives," said Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore's health commissioner. "In a time of a public health emergency, we should be making it more affordable and available."

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The Maryland General Assembly’s 2018 session has started. We at the Baltimore City Health Department are hard at work with our state legislators on a variety of bills to safeguard health and well-being.

A critical priority is protecting the Affordable Care Act and preventing the gains made from being rolled back. Last month, I expressed my full support for a state-enforced individual mandate bill, which would use collected funds and apply them toward marketplace plans for those who are uninsured but do not qualify for Medicaid.  I hope to assist with other legislation to strengthen the ACA, including expansion of Medicaid and Medicare and development of a public option.

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President Trump’s State of the Union address was 80 minutes long. He spent just 49 seconds on the opioid epidemic, something he has declared to be a public health emergency.

Read Dr. Wen's entire op-ed.

The Baltimore City Health Department says the number of sleep-related infant deaths nearly doubled last year. In 2017, 13 babies died in their sleep in Baltimore City, compared to seven deaths the year before. On Tuesday, the department testified in front of the City Council. They are pushing to take more action against sleep-related infant deaths. “There are multifaceted issues to why someone might not put their baby to sleep safely,” Rebecca Dineen, co-leader of B’More for Healthy Babies. “These are conditions that are a result of their environment as much as it is knowledge of the right thing to do.” 

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