HBO's The Wire Should Highlight Maryland's Health Care System

As outreach efforts intensify in the last three weeks before Open Enrollment on state healthcare marketplaces, many states worry that their uninsured populations won't receive the message.  Maryland is one state that worries about whether it can successfully enroll its state's 800,000 uninsured residents.

One of the main issues reaching Maryland's uninsured is the lack of available data to help state officials locate those residents. In an effort to change this, officials are using "upgraded electronic health records to develop maps highlighting where Marylanders overuse emergency rooms for care -- one indicator of the uninsured -- or where pockets of disease develop."  (Baltimore Sun, 9/7/13.)  While census data can identify concentrations at the city and county levels, this improved data will provide more targeted information that will help identify demographics down to the community level.

[dhmh.maryland.gov]

Once communities with high numbers of uninsured are identified, state and community health leaders plan to target "pharmacies, grocery stores, and street festivals" to find those in need of care and inform them of their options.

This new data is important because enrollment in Medicaid under health care reform's expansion allowance could make or break the success of the new law which requires high levels of enrollment in order to succeed. New data identifying smaller pockets of uninsured will make targeted education efforts possible, which may, in turn, generate enrollment.

[deathandtaxesmag.com]

With all these changes and data challenges afoot, perhaps Maryland's health care system would make a fascinating theme for The Wire, should producers decide to shoot an encore season.  It may be yet another way to educate communities about burgeoning health care options. And I'm sure its 4 million viewers wouldn't be disappointed, either.