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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 Andrea Irwin.
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CAHC
Educating and Reaching out to
Mainers
March was a busy month for the
Outreach and Education staff. Between our regular
workshops, more layoffs in the community and national
health reform questions; we've had more than enough to
keep us
going. Click here for more
details. |
Remembering
Rocky
Richard
"Rocky" D'Andrea, 63, beloved husband, father,
grandfather, brother and uncle, passed peacefully March
22, 2010 in his home in
Maine.
To
read full obituary click here.
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CAHC
Welcomes New Staff Member
Consumers for Affordable Health Care
(CAHC) welcomes Andrea Irwin of Portland as its
new Health Policy Advocate and Coalition
Coordinator.
Read
more about Andrea
here. |
Interesting
Facts
According to the National
Committee on Energy and Commerce, once the national
health reform law is fully implemented, more than 95% of
Americans will have health insurance coverage, including
32 million who are currently uninsured. And, reform will
cut the federal budget deficit by about $138 billion
over the next ten years, and a whopping $1.2 trillion in
the following ten
years.
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National Health Reform Passed!
Now What Exactly Does that
Mean?
Members of Congress from across the
country rose to the occasion by voting for the
national health reform bill. Both Maine
Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree
voted for this monumental legislation (Check out
this NY Times article on
Chellie's efforts). All of our hard work has
paid off! But there is still so much more to
do. We need to make sure the bill that
passed is implemented in the best way possible to
help the most people possible get quality,
affordable health care. And, there is a lot
of information out there about what everything in
the law now means. We tried to break down
for you some of the measures that will
happen within the next year to help
Maine small businesses, children, elderly,
uninsured and others. Check it out
here. |
Maine Legislators
Pass Insurance Cap Bill
Bill Enacted as One of
Bill's Strongest Supporters Passes
Away
after Hitting Caps
 Consumers for Affordable
Health Care (CAHC) is pleased the Maine
House and Senate enacted LD 1620, "An Act to
Protect Health Care Consumers from Catastrophic
Medical Debt." The Governor plans to sign it into
law April 1st. However, CAHC is deeply
saddened to know one of the bill's strongest
supporters died before ever seeing this bill
become law. During the same days the House
and Senate were voting on LD 1620, Richard "Rocky"
D'Andrea from Limerick, Maine lost his battle to
cancer. He died March 22, 2010 peacefully in
his home.
To read more of this story, click
here.
To read press coverage in the
Bangor Daily News of the bill passing, click
here. |
Maine Consumer
Health Advocate One of Eleven Chosen for National
Panel
Joe
Ditré Will Help Ensure National Health Reform
is Implemented as Planned
Consumers for Affordable Health
Care's Executive Director, Joe Ditré, is one of
11 newly appointed people nationwide to
represent consumers before the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners
(NAIC). This comes at a critical time
since national health reform just passed.
Joe will help ensure that policies within the bill
are carried through properly and will make sure
any new national health policies represent
consumers' best interests. Joe will join a small
group of other consumer representatives (18 funded
and 10 unfunded) from across the country and
travel to the three annual meetings of the
NAIC. The first meeting of which is
Thursday, March 25, 2010. Read the rest of this story
here.
Click here to read news
coverage of this in the Bangor Daily News.
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 Maine Campaign Kicking Off
The Maine Campaign for
Better Care plans to kick off May 3 at
CAHC's office at 11:30 am. Caregivers who
know firsthand how critical coordinated care is
for their elderly parents will be on hand to share
their personal stories. The nation-wide Campaign
is designed 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. We need to make sure
vulnerable older adults and others with multiple
chronic health conditions get the comprehensive,
coordinated, quality health care they need and
deserve. So far, joining CAHC in these efforts is
the American Heart Association- Founders
Affiliate, City of Portland Minority Health
Office, Direct Care Alliance- Maine Chapter,
Easter Area Agency on Aging, Law Offices of Alice
E. Knapp, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Maine
Parent Federation and Maine Women's
Lobby.
Think you want to sign on to the
Campaign? Read more here! And if
you have a story to tell about the
well-coordinated care you received, or a situation
where things did not go so well, click here for our "share your
story" form.
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CAHC in the
News
Berry Bill Aims to
Ban Insurance Benefit Caps
As seen in several coastal newspapers,
reported by Lorie Costigan "Of
course we hope it passes," Cherilee Budrick of
Consumers for Affordable Health Care said. The
nonprofit organization has tracked the bill's
progress and listened to stories of those brought
to financial ruin when their insurance policies
failed to treat melanoma, breast cancer and other
illnesses. "To have caps defeats the whole
purpose of insurance," Budrick said. "We buy
insurance so it is there when we need it." Read full story
here.
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CAHC's
HelpLine is Giving Real
Help to
Maine
People
True
Story:
The Health Care
HelpLine has already started getting calls related
to the passage of Health Care Reform. A
young lady called with questions about the new
provision that allows children and dependants to
be on the parents' health plans up to age 26.
This provision in the law goes into effect
in September of this year. Maine law
currently allows dependant coverage up to age
25. This caller's 25th birthday was coming
up. Click here to read rest of
story. |
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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 | | |
