Medicaid in Maryland: what you may be able to apply for

Maryland's Medicaid immigrant rules, grounded in the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and Maryland Health Connection official pages, read in layers: (1) General rule — for full Medicaid or the Maryland Children's Health Program (MCHP), most noncitizens must have a qualified noncitizen status and wait five years after getting that status. (2) Children and pregnant people are exempt from the five-year wait (Maryland adopted the ICHIA option): MDH states that if you are pregnant, or under age 21 and lawfully present but not yet a qualified noncitizen, you may apply for full Medicaid and do not have to wait five years. (3) 🌟 Pregnant people of ANY immigration status, including undocumented: under the Healthy Babies Equity Act (effective July 1, 2023), noncitizen pregnant individuals of any immigration status can get full Medicaid with income up to 250% FPL — coverage runs through pregnancy and for four months after birth, and Medicaid may pay for care up to three months before you applied. (4) Emergency Medicaid, including childbirth, is available to non-qualified noncitizens who are otherwise eligible, regardless of status. (5) 🔴 An honest limit — undocumented children who are NOT pregnant and NOT lawfully present are NOT covered by full Maryland Medicaid or MCHP (only emergency services); Maryland has not extended full children's coverage to undocumented children the way California, Illinois, New York, or New Jersey have. (6) 🔴 A federal change is coming: effective October 1, 2026, the federal OBBBA (H.R.1) narrows Medicaid eligibility for some lawfully present noncitizen groups — that federal rule lives on the shared Medicaid program page and is not restated here. This is a changing area; verify your own situation with Maryland Health Connection or your local health department.