(Augusta) Consumers for Affordable Health Care
(CAHC) along with Maine Voices for Coverage* is
releasing a report, "False Security:
Health Insurance That Doesn't Pay When You Need It
Most" that will explain why lifetime and annual caps
on health insurance are a detriment to Maine people and
our economy.
We will also introduce a bill sponsored by House
Majority Whip Seth Berry, (LD
1620) "An Act to Protect Health Care Consumers from
Catastrophic Medical Debt." This is
happening January 21, 2010 at noon in the State House
Welcome Center.
"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," says Majority Whip Berry.
As our report shows,
by eliminating annual and lifetime caps, we can ensure
that people get the care they need when they need
it.
Economists have proven that when people have good
health coverage, the cost to our community and health
care system is far less than when people are
uninsured.
By setting caps for people who still need care,
it will not only hurt the health of our neighbors,
friends and family, but it will also cost us all much
more in the long run.
Theresa D'Andrea and
her husband Rocky from Limerick, Maine found out the
hard way what it's like to pay insurance premiums for
years, and still not get the care they need when they
need it most, "By the time Rocky's skin cancer was
diagnosed it was so extensive that it could not be
operated on.
We were told our only hope was an experimental
drug that cost nearly $9000 per dose. After a four week
hospital stay we were left with a bill for $1.6
million.
Now we're in financial ruin. But we had
insurance!
No Maine family should have to face what we are
going through-especially when your life depends on
it."
While
it's exciting to see the elimination of lifetime and
annual caps included in national health reform bills
being considered by Congress, some proposals delay the
provision from taking effect (until 2014). We need to make
sure lifetime and annual caps are prohibited immediately
and if necessary do so at the state level.
"According to
preliminary reports to the Bureau of Insurance, Anthem
insurance decided this year (2010) to limit the amount
of care people could get, changing a majority of its
plans from having no lifetime caps to having $3 million
caps---This, despite bipartisan national health reform
efforts moving to eliminate lifetime caps. We
can't continue to let insurance companies hurt our hard
working families. We need the protection LD 1620
offers," says CAHC Executive Director Joe
Ditré.
We are holding the
press conference on this issue jointly with our partners
in the Maine Voices for Coverage campaign January 21st
at noon in the State House Welcome Center.
Our
report will be posted on our Web site after the
press conference and information on how you can get
involved in the Maine Voices for Coverage campaign can
be found at http://www.mainecahc.org/mvc.htm
*Maine Voices for
Coverage
is a grant-funded, statewide
effort to bring the views of every day people to
policymakers to ensure all Mainers have access to
quality, affordable health care that is there when they
need it. Consumers for Affordable Health Care and a
team of members from the American Cancer Society of
Maine, Maine AFL-CIO, Maine Council of Churches, Maine
Center for Economic Policy, Maine Equal Justice, Maine
Parent Federation and Maine People's Resource Center are
leading this next giant leap toward health care for all
in Maine.
