Health care debate comes to Maine
This just (kind of, Friday afternoon) in from the US Department of Health and Human Services, on why Maine needs health care reform:
Congress
and the President are working to enact health care reform legislation
that protects what works about health care and fixes what is broken.
Mainers know that inaction is not an option. Sky-rocketing health care
costs are hurting families, forcing businesses to cut or drop health
benefits, and straining state budgets. Mainers are paying more for
less. Families and businesses in Maine deserve better.
MAINERS CAN’T AFFORD THE STATUS QUO
- Roughly 783,000 people in Maine get health insurance on the job1, where family premiums average $14,304, about the annual earning of a full-time minimum wage job.2
- Since 2000 alone, average family premiums have increased by 105 percent in Maine.3
- Household
budgets are strained by high costs: 15 percent of middle-income Maine
families spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care.4
- High costs block access to care: 10 percent of people in Maine report not visiting a doctor due to high costs.5
- Maine
businesses and families shoulder a hidden health tax of roughly $800
per year on premiums as a direct result of subsidizing the costs of the
uninsured.6
AFFORDABLE HEALTH COVERAGE IS INCREASINGLY OUT OF REACH IN MAINE
- 9 percent of people in Maine are uninsured, and 75 percent of them are in families with at least one full-time worker.7
- The percent of Mainers with employer coverage is declining: from 63 to 60 percent between 2000 and 2007.8
- While small businesses make up 79 percent of Maine businesses,9 only 45 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2006.10
- Choice
of health insurance is limited in Maine. WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) alone
constitutes 78 percent of the health insurance market share in Maine,
with the top two insurance providers accounting for 88 percent.11
- Choice
is even more limited for people with pre-existing conditions. In Maine,
premiums can vary based on a modified community rating structure, and
coverage can exclude pre-existing conditions in some cases.
MAINERS NEED HIGHER QUALITY, GREATER VALUE, AND MORE PREVENTATIVE CARE
- The overall quality of care in Maine is rated as “Average.”12
- Preventative
measures that could keep Mainers healthier and out of the hospital are
deficient, leading to problems across the age spectrum:
- 13 percent of children in Maine are obese.13
- 15 percent of women over the age of 50 in Maine have not received a mammogram in the past two years.
- 27 percent of men over the age of 50 in Maine have never had a colorectal cancer screening.
- 77 percent of adults over the age of 65 in Maine have received a flu vaccine in the past year.14
The need for reform in Maine and across the country is clear.
Maine families simply can’t afford the status quo and deserve better.
President Obama is committed to working with Congress to pass health
reform this year that reduces costs for families, businesses and
government; protects people’s choice of doctors, hospitals and health
plans; and assures affordable, quality health care for all Americans.
The same day, I recieved an email from Doctors for America, denouncing a Conservatives for Patients' Rights TV ad that's currently airing in Maine (aimed, of course, at Maine's swing-vote senators, who could play a big role in the healthcare debate [seems like every time I mention these two recently I mention how important their votes are]). The ad (you can watch their ads on YouTube) claims that healthcare reform will add one more layer of bureaucracy to our already-miserable healthcare system. The DFA release counters: “Health reform, like a sound public option, will make sure that Americans are
able to get the health care they desperately need. This scare tactic is a lie,
the plans on the table will make sure more people can get the preventative care
and long term treatment they need for a better quality of life,” said Dr. Vivek
Murthy, President of Doctors for America.