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MD Health Officials Emphasize Community Based Long-Term Care

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland health officials are highlighting a new emphasis on supporting home and community-based, long-term care with the help of last year's increase in the state's alcohol tax.

The state has included $14.3 million in the fiscal year that began this month expand community-based services.

In the first 11 months since it went into effect, Maryland's 50 percent increase in the alcohol tax has raised about $68.6 million. It's expected to raise about $75 million for the first year, shy of the $85 million projected when the bill was passed in 2011.

Most of the money is now set aside for health-related initiatives, including aid for the developmentally disabled.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.