BLAIR LEE III, Acting Governor

1197

required for the county to satisfy the provisions of this
subsection. If that amount exceeds the amount which the
political subdivision had placed on deposit, the additional
local requirement will be reported to the political
subdivision concerned, and the political subdivision shall
appropriate and forward that amount to the State Department
of Health within eighteen (18) months after receipt of the
report. If the final calculation shows that the amount
placed on deposit was in excess of the required amount to
satisfy this subsection, the State Department of Health will
credit the differences to each subdivision concerned in the
estimates it forwards to each political subdivision in
December of each year, as provided at the outset of this
subsection.

(b)    These funds shall be used by the State Department
of Health and Rental Hygiene solely for the purpose of
supplementing the State general funds appropriated for
hospital care so that payments for hospital service rendered
to indigent and medically indigent patients will be made at
reimbursement rates as paid by the Maryland Medical
Assistance Program.

(c)    Such federal funds as may be received by the
State, as reimbursement for payments for hospital care,
shall be accounted for in such a way that the respective
political subdivisions and the State receive the pro rata
benefit of such federal funds, to the extent that such
federal funds are not needed to defray 10% of the cost of
hospital care.

(d) In order to participate in this program, each
county and Baltimore City is authorized and required to levy
such taxes as are necessary to provide for the payments
required by this section.

(e)    The State Board of Health and Mental Hygiene is
authorized to adopt and promulgate such rules and
regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of
this section.

(f)    The payment by any county or Baltimore City to
the State Department of Health of the sum specified in this
section, plus any supplementation of this sum by any State
or federal funds, shall be treated and considered up to the
particular aggregate amount as compliance with any public
local law for that county or Baltimore City which requires
or permits the county or city to pay moneys to a hospital or
hospitals. The amount of any such payment under this
section, together with its supplementation, shall be
deducted from any payment or payments otherwise payable
under the public local laws for the county or Baltimore
City. If the payment of sum specified in this section plus
the supplementation therefor is less than the total
obligation of the county or Baltimore City under its public
local laws, the amount of difference shall be paid over by
the county or city to the hospital or hospitals, in
substantially the same ratio as that required in the public