House Majority Leader David Moon Says Health Care Comes First in January

Del. David Moon, the Majority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates, was re-elected in District 20 with no opponent on the ballot, according to unofficial results. Moderately MOCO talked with Moon on election night about what comes first when the General Assembly meets in January.

The interview is also on Facebook and Instagram. Interview by Jason Makstein for Moderately MOCO.

Health care first

Asked about the next legislative session, Moon said, “I think for me, the work begins immediately.” He said health care “is going to come ripping back in since a lot of the ACA subsidies and the Medicaid increased paperwork and all that stuff starts to kick in in the next few weeks.”

“So we’ve got our work cut out to us, I think, immediately to get health care back online and work with our federal partners on that,” Moon said.

Moon pointed to “an uproar about the premium increases that we’re seeing” and said, “I think everybody’s recognized that was going to have to be priority number one coming into January.”

In Montgomery County, health officials told a County Council committee on Oct. 29 that 1,082 residents no longer have Medicaid after a federal law narrowed eligibility for noncitizens starting Oct. 1, Moderately MOCO reported.

Beyond health care, Moon said “energy, health, housing and the like” would “come into focus for the January legislative session.”

Federal money Moon says Maryland is owed

Moderately MOCO asked Moon about the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA). The state budget the General Assembly passed this year reduced the “reasonable and customary” wages for caregivers hired through DDA’s self-directed services program, set separate wage standards for family members working as staff, and capped paid care by family members at 60 hours a week (40 for any one family member), according to the Department of Legislative Services (pages 38-39).

In his answer, Moon spoke about federal money he wants Maryland to get back “as soon as the federal government changes hands into the Democrats hands.” He said he has “a list of projects, Maryland specific,” for which “funding was illegally withheld from us.” That description of the withholding as illegal is Moon’s.

His examples were “disaster relief for Eastern Shore towns or Western Maryland flood relief.” “There’s an additional list of things we need to be made whole on,” Moon said. “And that includes things like SNAP, Medicaid and the like.”

With “even a little bit of leverage in Congress and over the budget,” Moon said, “I fully expect to go to our federal partners immediately and try to sort out what Maryland was due.”

The results

Three Democrats were on the District 20 ballot for the district’s three House seats: Moon, Lorig Charkoudian and Jheanelle K. Wilkins. Moon had 30,660 votes (33.34%), Charkoudian 30,496 (33.16%) and Wilkins 30,101 (32.73%), with 710 write-in votes (0.77%), according to the State Board of Elections’ Montgomery County results page, last refreshed at 10:56 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.

Moon was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2014 and has been Majority Leader since 2023, according to his General Assembly biography. Results are unofficial until every ballot is counted and certified. Results for the county’s other legislative races are in our State Senate and Delegate results story.

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