Policy
Roundup
For a complete round up of the health
care and coverage initiatives Maine Legislators have
decided on this session so far click
here.
Note: The status of some of
these bills may change by "print time." If you have any
questions about any of these policies, please contact Darcy or Doug.
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Coalition Member
Spotlight
If you are a CAHC Member and would like
to see your work and activities highlighted in our
newsletter as they apply to health care and coverage
issues, please email
us.
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Interesting Fact
A new
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Report indicates that
within ten years the cost of health care for small
businesses could double and the number of uninsured
nationwide could reach about 66 million people-an
increase from today of more than 20 million people. Read
full report here: www.rwjf.org.
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MaineShare is celebrating 20 years
of sharing! Congratulations and Thank
you!! | |
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"Health Care Bill
of Rights,"
Needed for
Maine
An important health
care transparency bill, LD 1205-- "An Act to
Establish a Health Care Bill of Rights,"
sponsored by Representative Sharon Treat, will
likely be voted on by the Maine Legislature
any day now. Contact your legislators to let
them know how important this bill is to
you: http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/townlist.htm
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MaineCare opens
up to
Single Adults without
Children Thousands of So-Called "Non-Categoricals"
Could Finally Get
Insurance
For the first time in more than a
year MaineCare is enrolling "non-categorical"
adults into the program-that is childless adults,
who are not pregnant or disabled and are between
the ages of 21-64.
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CAHC's HelpLine is
Giving Real
Help
to Maine
People
The Washington County
Career Center recently requested CAHC to present
on Health Coverage Options for Laid-off Workers.
At the presentation, CAHC Outreach staff met a
woman who had been insured through her husband's
job since 1990. When her husband was laid off this
spring her life was thrown into crisis as she
faced loss of her insurance along with his job.
Disabled since 2004, she had used Medicare as a
secondary insurance which picked up costs that the
primary private insurance didn't cover. With the
loss of her husband's income, they could not pay
for these uncovered costs on their
own.
Click
here for the full
story. |
CAHC's
Outreach and Education
Efforts
From Portland to Calais-CAHC
Educates on Health Coverage. Our Outreach
and Education Staff kept busy this past month with
half a dozen workshops, trainings and
exhibits. Staff met with laid off workers in
Calais to discuss possible health coverage options
with them. Working with the Career Center there,
we were able to talk with some of the 500 recently
laid off workers on topics ranging from the health
care tax credit to COBRA and Dirigo to free or low
cost coverage options such as
MaineCare.
Click here for more on this
topic. |
CAHC in the
News
Reactions
to the Healthcare Savings
Pledge
5/12/09 MPBN By: Tom
Porter
"We believe that over 30 percent of all
spending in healthcare in Maine as well as in the
United States is spent on services that are
ineffective, duplicative and inefficient," says
Joe Ditre, Executive Director of Consumers for
Affordable Healthcare, a non-profit dedicated to
helping Maine people obtain affordable, quality
healthcare. Ditre believes the $2 trillion in
savings is a highly achievable goal. His main
concern is that these savings find their way to
the consumer - especially the 124,000 Mainers who
are currently estimated to be without health
insurance.
To read full story, click
here.
House
Shoots Down Out-of-State Health Insurance
Proposal
5/13/09 MPBN By: AJ
Higgins
Anthem
Plots Next Move In Wake of Rejected
Proposal 5/20/09 MPBN By: Josie
Huang
To read full story, click here.
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If you liked the
information included in this newsletter, please
forward it along to others you think may be
interested. If you are interested in
learning more about what CAHC has been working on,
or how we may be able to help you in your health
care or health coverage matters,
visit our Web
site.
Sincerely,
Communications
Coordinator | | |
