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Join
the CAHC Coalition!
Want to join the 40+
other organizations and individuals who are part of the
Consumers for Affordable Health Care
Coalition?
Click here for more
information. Or email Valerie Clark.
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CAHC
Educating and Reaching out to
Mainers
Our Outreach and Education Staff were once
again trying to help soon-to-be laid off
workers. We attended a resource fair in Auburn for
the 200 workers about to lose their jobs at Symmetry
Medical Riley. Click here for more
detail. |
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CAHC
in the News
Insurance
Benefit Caps Come Under Fire in Augusta
As heard on MPBN
1/21/10, reported by Anne Mostue
"It's not
often that a change in insurance law can eliminate a
catastrophic risk that many of us face, and financial
ruin that a few of us will have to deal with, all for a
very small cost. But that is exactly the situation we're
presented with respect to annual and lifetime benefit
limits," (CAHC Board Member, Mitchell) Stein
says..
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Free Media
Training On Health Care Reform
We
periodically hold health care and coverage media
trainings. They will give you more information about why
national and state health care reform is important and
how you can be more active in getting the message out
through media and other venues. If you are
interested in attending any of these trainings, please
email Cherilee.
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Interesting
Facts
According to
Maine health insurance company reports to the Bureau of
Insurance, only 14 people in this state hit
lifetime insurance caps and 27 hit annual caps
between 2003-2009. From the numbers they received,
the Bureau of Insurance says the cost to eliminate these
caps would likely be minimal with an average of about
0.2% increase in premiums.
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CAHC Supports Removing Lifetime and
Annual Caps from Health Insurance
Policies
 Consumers for Affordable
Health Care (CAHC) along with Maine Voices for Coverage
released a report, "False Security: Health Insurance
That Doesn't Pay When You Need It Most" which
explains why lifetime and annual caps on health
insurance are a detriment to Maine people and our
economy. The report relates to a bill
sponsored by House Majority Whip Seth Berry, (LD 1620) "An Act to Protect
Health Care Consumers from Catastrophic Medical
Debt."
 At a press conference we held
January 21st Berry said, "As legislators, we
always say we want to protect the most vulnerable.
Who is more vulnerable than those who are so sick
they run out of health coverage to pay for the
bills? No Maine family should ever have to risk
losing their homes or their life savings because a
family member has been diagnosed with cancer,
hemophilia, AIDS, multiple sclerosis-or any other
illness that tends to accrue medical bills
quickly."
We got great
press coverage of this event. Check it out
along with more on this story by clicking here.
Pictured
above: Top- Majority Whip Seth Berry
speaks at our press conference while other
legislators and bill supporters watch on.
Below- Theresa and "Rocky" D'Andrea of Limerick
talk with a reporter about their extreme
challenges since hitting their lifetime health
insurance
cap. |
CAHC Begins
New Effort to Help Maine People Receive Better
Coordinated Care
Consumers for Affordable Health Care
plans to take part in a new national effort to try
and reform our health care system by making sure
the needs of patients and their family caregivers
are front and center in a new health care
system.
Specifically we're working to make sure
vulnerable older adults with multiple chronic
health conditions get the comprehensive,
coordinated, quality health care they need and
deserve.
 The Campaign for Better Care
(CBC) will launch its efforts in March 2010 as an
unprecedented mobilization. This
effort is led locally by Consumers for Affordable
Health Care and nationally by the National
Partnership for Women & Families.
Pictured Above:
Renee Markus Hoden, of Community
Catalyst, talks at the Southern
Maine Area
Agency on Aging about how CBC and its goals align with national health
reform policies being
considered in Washington,
D.C. |
Volunteer
Helps CAHC Achieve its Mission
CAHC Volunteer Highlight:
Jessi
is an 18 year old high school student. She
learned how important it is to have health
insurance when her younger brother needed major
corrective surgery on his chest, and their Mom
couldn't afford it. Over the last four years she
provided support to several outreach events for
Consumers for Affordable Health Care. Last year
alone she volunteered at 6 different events that
hosted over 82,000 people by staffing exhibits on
free and low-cost health care coverage programs.
She gave dozens of hours of her time counseling
Mainers on how to utilize the toll-free HelpLine
(1-800965-7476) at Consumers for Affordable Health
Care, and handed out supporting informative
materials. With her assistance, more than 1200
people learned about programs that might help them
access health coverage for themselves and their
children. Armed with the materials and information
Jessi presented, hundreds of Maine people were
able to apply for programs directly or contact the
HelpLine for further assistance. Thank you,
Jessi!
Interested in volunteering for
CAHC?
Give us a call at 622-7083.
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CAHC's
HelpLine is Giving Real
Help
to Maine
People
True
Story:
A woman called
CAHC's HelpLine after she had been told her child
could get MaineCare but she and her husband
couldn't. The mother recently lost her job and
receives unemployment and the father works but
income is unpredictable because his hours vary
from week to week. He just learned he has a
serious health complication and needs surgery. She
wanted to know if there was any other option for
them.
Over three separate phone calls
with the family HelpLine staff walked them through
how to proceed. For wages, MaineCare eligibility
is typically based on income received in the four
weeks prior to the application date; however
if income goes up and down over time, MaineCare
can also look at income over a larger period of
time. In this case, it turned out that if
the dad's income was averaged over the year,
rather than the standard four weeks, his income
was in fact low enough that all three of them
could be covered by MaineCare, thus enabling him
to get the surgery he desperately needs.
If you or someone you know has some
health coverage questions, maybe we can
help. Feel free to call our toll free
HelpLine at 1-800-965-7476 to see if you can get
the answers you
need. |
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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 | | |
