Of Service - National Health Law Program protects health care for

NHeLP is working with state Medicaid Advisory Committees mandated by federal law across the country, as well as many other community and consumer groups, to support Medicaid advocacy efforts with administrative agencies and legislatures.

In Maryland, for example, NHeLP helped to provide legal counsel to state legislators on a bill to strengthen Maryland's Medicaid Advisory Board and is advising local advocates.

There's never any ego with them, noted Legal Aid's Bailey, who has worked with NHeLP since 1998. They make the issues less complex so you can hold your own with the state on Medicaid issues. NHeLP is always up-to-date and out there sharing with everyone.

That includes online. NHeLP's Web site, www.healthlaw.org, provides timely information and analysis to advocates, lawyers, and community organizations on health law issues concerning low-income and other disadvantaged people.

The organization also provides another Web site, HealthCareCoach.com, to help consumers select and use insurance to get the best health care they can.

A nonprofit, NHeLP received most of its funding from the U.S. Legal Services Corp. until 1995, when Congress eliminated funding for it and similar national support law centers.

Today, NHeLP now relies on grants from private foundations and individual contributions from lawyers and others around the country.

Robert J. Rhudy, the former executive director of the Maryland Legal Services Corp., is a consultant and attorney private practice in Baltimore. He can be reached at bobrhudy@yahoo.com. Joe Surkiewicz is communications director at the Legal Aid Bureau. He can be reached at jsurkiewicz@mdlab.org.

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