As an emergency physician, I treated patients before and after the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Before the ACA, I routinely saw dozens of uninsured patients every single day. They were uninsured not because they didn’t want insurance or believed they didn’t need it, but because they couldn’t afford it. I treated Sarah, a 47-year old nurse’s aide, who was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread throughout her body. Had she been insured, her cancer could have been detected earlier, and she might have been cured. Instead, Sarah died six months after her diagnosis, leaving her three young children without their mother.

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Maryland lawmakers are considering their own version of the Affordable Care Act.  One bill that's getting the most attention would create an individual mandate. Residents without insurance would face a $700 fine or use that money for a down payment to purchase insurance.

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Every 19 minutes someone dies from an opioid overdose, primarily prescribed drugs such as oxycontin and hydrocodone and the illegal drug heroin. A group of professionals in the field and a city mayor spoke about how a data-driven social safety net can save lives during a panel discussion at Smart Cities Week in Washington, D.C.

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Click here to read the 2/16/18 newsletter. Subscribe to the Bmore Healthy newsletter.

In this issue:

• Note from the Commissioner 
• The Daily Record: Dr. Wen and Hank Greenberg Pen Op-Ed About Prescription Drug Affordability
• Dr. Wen Joins Mayor Pugh for “Get On Your Good Foot” Dance For Your Heart Event
• and more