Universal health backer in Maryland awarded $750,000 grant

Maryland Citizens Health Initiative has received a three-year, $250,000-a-year grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Formed in 1999, the initiative developed its first universal coverage plan in 2002 and persuaded about 2,000 community groups to be supporters. For the next several months, the organization will work to enroll people newly eligible for Medicaid. Although about 250,000 of the state's 750,000 uninsured will be eligible for Medicaid coverage, the state expects only about half of them to sign up, said Initiative representatives.