FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (05/08/2026)     

             

Maryland Retiree Sues DBM for Unlawfully Outsourcing

State Prescription Drug Benefits Programs

 

      Baltimore County, MD — A Maryland retiree, Kenneth Fitch, has filed a lawsuit that challenges the Maryland Department of Budget and Management’s decision to replace the State’s statutory prescription drug programs for retirees with a private, vendor run system that the legislature never authorized. Mr. Fitch is asking the federal court to require that DBM implement the programs the General Assembly enacted.

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         The complaint explains that Maryland law requires the State (DBM) —not a private contractor—to operate three prescription‑drug reimbursement programs for a closed class of eligible retirees. These programs include automatic enrollment, counseling, and direct State administration. DBM never implemented any of them. Instead, the agency now requires retirees to enroll with a private vendor called “Via Benefits” to receive any prescription‑drug assistance at all.

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       According to the lawsuit, this vendor‑based system is not only unauthorized but structurally unsound. DBM’s contract is not with “Via Benefits” but with a different company, Extend Health, LLC. “Via Benefits” is not a legal entity, is not registered to do business in Maryland, and is not named anywhere in the contract as an approved subcontractor. Despite this, it appears that DBM allows “Via Benefits” to perform core State functions—including enrollment, eligibility screening, counseling, and handling retirees’ protected health information—without statutory authority, without procurement approval, and without the safeguards required by HIPAA.

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      People who gave decades of service to this State are being told they can’t get the benefit the legislature promised them unless they sign up with a private vendor that the State never even authorized,” said counsel for Mr. Fitch. “DBM had no authority to dismantle the statutory program and hand their medical information to an unapproved vendor. That is not how the law works, and it is not how Maryland should treat its retired public servants.”

 

       The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to have the statutory prescription drug programs implemented and prohibiting DBM from enforcing the vendor enrollment requirement going forward.