"If we lived 45 minutes away in New Hampshire, I could obtain the same coverage for less. Dramatically less. "

Chris
[read more]

 

"...deterioration of the risk pool could lead to further rate increases, causing more people to drop coverage. If this cycle were to continue, it could lead to a collapse of the individual health insurance market."

Maine Bureau of Insurance staff
"White Paper" - January 2000
[read more]

"Meanwhile, Mainers are paying the second-highest health-insurance rates in the country after New Jersey... So how did we get here? "

"Maine's Insurance Mess"
by Jeff Clark, DownEast
[read more]

 
 


Many HealthChoice members have read the information on this web site and urged their legislators to support reforms. We thank you for your interest and your efforts. Here’s an update on where we are as of March 18:

A hearing was held last Thursday on LD 2247, “An Act to Continue Maine’s Leadership in Covering the Uninsured” sponsored by Representative Hannah Pingree (D-North Haven), Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. It includes modest individual market reform as well as establishing new funding sources to support subsidies for DirigoChoice. Specifically, LD 2247, would do the following with regard to market reform:

  • Create a reinsurance pool to provide subsidies for large claims in the individual market, with the goal of reducing the premium burden for all members in the individual market;

  • Allow for small changes to the community rate bands that determine the premiums an individual will pay for coverage, with the goal of reducing premiums for younger people;
  • Replace the current DirigoChoice funding mechanism, the Savings Offset Payment (SOP), increase in the tobacco tax and a 1.8% “surcharge” on paid claims. This funding source would fund DirigoChoice subsidies and the reinsurance pool.

At Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, we estimate that the proposed changes in this bill would result in modest improvement to the cost of individual market coverage.

 

While these changes clearly will not solve all the problems that the individual market is experiencing, they do represent a step in the right direction.

The Insurance and Financial Services Committee is meeting in work sessions this week and will likely report the bill out in some form for full vote by the House and Senate in the next couple of weeks. The House and Senate have not yet voted on Rep. Pilon’s bill, LD 1760, which is based on the Idaho individual market model, nor Rep. Vaughn’s LD 1047, which would establish a high risk pool in Maine. We anticipate that all of these bills will be taken up by the Legislature in the next couple of weeks, so now is the time to contact your legislator. If you don't know who your state legislators are, you can use this link to find them based on your town of residence http://janus.state.me.us/house/townlist.htm.

It is not too late to contact your legislators to urge them to enact meaningful reform in the individual health insurance market.

Here is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s testimony on LD 2247 as well as recent opinion editorials in the Bangor Daily News and Kennebec Journal urging the Legislature to enact meaningful reforms. We are also providing links to recent news stories from the Brunswick Times Record and Bangor Daily News about the March 13 hearing on this legislation. 

If you communicate with a legislator, or have suggestions or questions, I can be reached at katie.harris@anthem.com or at (207) 822-7260. Thank you!

 
     
 

The individual market is broken

Imagine a town where steadily increasing property taxes are causing the young people to move out, leaving behind a smaller population of older people to pay for all of the services.

That is what is happening with Maine’s individual health insurance market. As rates go up, many people can no longer afford health insurance. As our pool of members shrinks, fewer people are left to share the cost of claims.

The fact is, the individual health insurance market in Maine is broken. Thousands of Maine people who cannot get health insurance through an employer are struggling to buy coverage on their own. Many of you are paying deductibles as high as $15,000 a year just to stay insured.

The increased cost of medical care and the increased use of services are driving some of the increases, but Maine’s insurance laws are a big part of the problem, too. They simply are not meeting the needs of Maine people.

Read More