WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

(13)  A nonprofit community service corporation
incorporated under Maryland law that is authorized to collect
charges or assessments[.]; AND

(14)  HOUSING AUTHORITIES CREATED UNDER ARTICLE 44A OF
THE CODE.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1988.

May 27, 1988

The Honorable R. Clayton Mitchell, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Delegates
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Mr. Speaker:

In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland
Constitution, I have today vetoed House Bill 1278.

This bill would require all health insurance contracts or
policies that provide coverage for diagnostic or surgical
procedures involving a bone or joint of the skeletal structure to
provide the same coverage for the same diagnostic or surgical
procedures involving a bone or joint of the face, neck, or head.

This legislation is intended to provide coverage for diagnostic
and surgical procedures of the "Temporomandibular Joint" (TMJ
the hinge where the lower jaw meets the upper). While Blue
Cross/Blue Shield of Maryland already provides this coverage, I
am informed that several companies in Maryland do not.

My main concern regarding House Bill 1278 concerns several
serious interpretative problems that are the result of amendments
to the legislation. The Acting Insurance Commissioner believes
that challenges to the statute could arise, and that it might
require litigation to resolve the issues.

Subsection (b) reads in part "This section may not be construed
to affect any coverage required under this article...". While the
intention may have been to limit the affect of the bill on other
provisions of Article 48A (the Insurance Code) of the Annotated
Code of Maryland, the Insurance Division is concerned that it
might be required to interpret the statute in accordance with the
actual words, which seem to make the bill a nullity.

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