Maine: Gov.Baldacci to announce universal health care plan Monday

boston.com ^ | 5-4-03

[Doc Savage]

This coverage would include full body transplants, psyche transplants, full body mutilation including tongue splitting and labia piercing, full body reconstruction following high speed collision with a moose, and as many boob-enhancing surgeries as necessary to bring you up to Hollyweird standards.

You will be assurred of being assigned either a Bangladesh medical student from the low 10% of his or her class, or your choice of a shaman or Jamaican witch doctor. Unfortunately, this coverage will not cover post nasal drip, removal of objects embedded in the anal area, or attachment of extremely bad hair pieces.

[pkmaine]

The Maine Heritage Policy Center
www.mainepolicy.org
May 5, 2003


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Baldacci Health Care Plan: A Cure Worse Than the Illness


PORTLAND - The Maine Heritage Policy Center today released a statement in reaction to the health care reform package unveiled by Governor John Baldacci.

"While we applaud the Governor for attempting to tackle the affordability issue in health care, it is quite clear that in this case, the cure is worse than the illness", said Tarren Bragdon, a former state legislator and current policy analyst with the Maine Heritage Policy Center. Bragdon also served as the Senate Republican appointee to the Governor's recent and short-lived Health Advisory Team.

“The Governor’s proposal represents a dramatic expansion of bureaucratic and regulatory controls over most aspects of healthcare and healthcare finance with no business model or proof from other states’ experiences that such proposals will work.”

Specifically, Bragdon cites five major problems with the new state-sponsored health plan:

1. To raise money to finance his health care plan, the Governor is proposing to place a $164 million tax on health insurance premiums paid by Maine people. This represents an immediate premium increase of $164 million for all individuals who currently pay for private health insurance and a shift from his ‘no new taxes’ campaign pledge. (page 57 of the proposal)

2. The expanded Certificate of Need part of the proposal would give unprecedented government oversight and approval of all new and expanded healthcare services. It would require bureaucratic approval of expansions and investments by any physician, dentist, doctor group, healthcare agency and hospital over an arbitrary dollar figure. This gives bureaucrats, rather than patients and healthcare professionals, the power to decide what new and innovative healthcare services are needed and will dramatically reduce Maine’s recently celebrated high quality healthcare. (page 36-41 of the proposal)

3. Affordability of the Dirigo Health Insurance product is highly questionable. Although the Governor proposes to subsidize premiums for certain low income workers, the cost of health plans in the individual market with comparable benefits to those required by Dirigo Health are between $566-$800 per month (for a 45-year old Augusta male). Employers would be minimally required to pay at least 60% or $340-$480 monthly to participate in Dirigo. This hardly seems affordable. (page 30 of the proposal compared to similar products listed at anthem.com)

4. Maine’s private health insurance market is uncompetitive due to extensive and costly regulation. The Governor’s proposal provides numerous other layers of regulation to private health insurance, including potential premium approvals, premium caps, provider rate setting and profit caps. This would further drive private insurers from the state.

5. The Governor proposes to set-up a global hospital budget for all $1.7 billion+ hospital services in the state by having administrators’ whims rather than patients’ need for hospital services drive individual hospital revenue. Additionally, such a proposal treats all hospitals in the state as one monopolistic entity rather than encouraging competition between them based on cost, quality and outcomes.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center will tomorrow release an alternative to the governor's plan – principles aimed at making private health insurance more affordable and accessible to more Maine people. MHPC's principles promote affordable private coverage, provide choice and portability of health pans, encourage consumer-driven care, and maintain high quality health care.

"The plan promoted by Governor Baldacci falls short of accomplishing real reform. The government should not be in the business of running health care - the voters of Oregon rejected similar government-regulated healthcare proposals last year", Bragdon commented.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a nonprofit and nonpartisan research and educational organization whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise; limited, constitutional government; individual freedom; and traditional American values--all for purpose of providing public policy solutions that benefit the people of Maine.

[CPOSharky]

OK, from the picture, I got the 'bald' part. But what does the 'acci' part mean. The start of accident, code for as...uh, nevermind.

[bayareablues]

Let's just say it was a lead balloon on the ballot last year in Oregon.

[Kuksool]

{Now I know why a lot of Gays are moving from California to retire or work in Maine. It is Portland's stated goal to become the San Francisco of the East. In a very Gay Way}

ME has a growing African Muslim immigrant community. I'd like to see how those two groups try to co-exist with other. It isn't going to be pretty.

[reg45]

Greyhound will be running "Freeloader Express Specials" from other parts of the country.

[exDemMom]

With a balanced budget law the new republican is having to make a lot of cuts (good thing) but that won't cover the deficit so taxes are heading up...

Gosh, and the taxes were pretty high when I left Maryland in 94. I'm sorry, I don't remember what the Maryland legislators are called, but did they also switch to Repub. control, or are they still under Demo. control? Anyway, it's a major change that MD elected a Repub. governor; I thought it would never happen.

[fight_truth_decay]

You have to realize..there will be Maine bashing from those that have never stepped out of their little corners of the earth (Maine should become part of Canada, etc.)

Maine is one of the most beautiful States in the U.S. and the beauty of it's rock bound coast, picturesque harbors and lighthouses, quaint New England small towns( most only know of Kennebunkport or Boothbay Harbor, Old Orchard Beach-tourist traps of Maine) are filled with caring, neighborly citizens.

Someone mentioned earlier their father was retiring to NH (a suburb of Boston), not Maine. You can't even begin to compare the 2 esthetically. What's more, isn't New Hampshire still located in the high cost-of-living, high tax region known as the Northeast. Is New Hampshire different from Connecticut, New York, Taxachussetts, New Jersey, and the rest of those liberal tax Hellholes? Isn't New Hampshire one of only two states that has neither a sales tax nor an income tax? The lack of a sales tax and a minimalist income tax does not assure a low tax burden. What ruins New Hampshire's ranking is its property taxes.

However, since 9/11, I do believe a lot of Mainers have opened their eyes to the pressing issues at hand and when election time rolls around, voters will speak out. We can only hope. As you said..what's worse, voting for a Democrat or voting for Collins? Sure, the Republicans secure a seat, but then what good is it if Collin's and Snowe's seat is usually turned and facing the wrong way?

Give a man a lobster, he eats for a day. Give a man a lobster trap and he eats for a lifetime.

f_t_d

[yoe]

He can't mean Universal Health Care, he must mean Health Care for the state of Maine - right off the bat the wording is wrong. One other little thing - if health care for smokers sent the price of insurance etc. soaring - what do you think the price of AIDS will do - seems a little one sided to me, who you grant health passes to and those you don't......

[SheLion]

He's all for abortion, as well. So,,,,,,,,,the state pays for abortions for gals who have no insurance. Nice, eh?

[buffyt]

You are right! Universal health care isn't correct - Maine can't afford to insure the universe..... Must be a DemonicRATic governor, he/she isn't too smart.

[buffyt]

I guess we can ALL go to Maine for free health care, surgery, etc. Just like Mexicans come to US for free care....

[Uncle Jaque]

Re: "When does Maine stop accepting federal money through Medicaid and Medicare and replace it with Maine money?":

It is really going to take some creative imagination, 'cause we're just about all out of Maine Money; they've about taxed us dry, run most of the industry and many of the Workers out of the state (or sold their jobs to China and put them on welfare) and filled our cities with immigrants and "Urban Outdoorsmen" who contribute, in most cases, very little if anything to the economy other than reliably voting Democrat, and expect, if not demand, to be taken care of.

Such jobs as we have are either for Lawyers who make a living sucking what little life is left out of our economy or in menial "service" Mac-Jobs that will hardly pay the rent, much less the taxes for a working Maine family.

Shucks; not satisfied with selling our industry to China, now Maine apple orchards are falling to the chainsaws to make room for more housing developments (which I suspect few actual Mainers can afford to live in)... Chinese apple juice (a major product of the apple industry) can be produced without American labor and environmental restrictions with essentially slave labor, and sold for less than it costs Maine growers to produce it domesticly. Much of Aroostic County, once one of America's major potato suppliers, seems to be planting and harvesting less potatoes every year, and most of the processing plants up there seem to be abandoned. I wonder if most of our spuds are coming from China, too?

The major industries in Maine, if you can call them that, seem to currently consist of telemarketing, public school administration, social welfare administration, and government beauraucracy. Darned little, it seems, is actually manufactured, produced, or grown here any more.

Oh; wait; I think we still grow a few blueberries up North and pull some lobsters from time to time - but those are seasonal things and I don't see anyone really "prospering" at it around here.

As more of Maine's communities become "gentrified", property taxes explode and drive many long-time Residents out of their own homes and off of their land to seek refuge in less desireable climes - inland to the mosquito swamps and sandpits or out of the state altogether.

Despite our dubious status as the collectively most heavilly taxed Citizens of any State in the Union, it is never enough for our State and Munincipal Governments, or the public shcool system that sucks in the vast majority of munincipal budgets via largely unfunded mandates from the State and Federal Governments. They always want - and demand - more.

We can assume, can't we, that whoever or whatever wanders accross our borders or washes up on our shoreline will be instantly entitled to lifelong "Dirigo-Care", as well as any spawn they happen to drop while here? I can almost smell a mass influx of Democrat Voters already enroute!
Let the migration begin!

What's the opposite of an "Exodus"? An "Introdus"?
Whatever; we're in for one. Or perhaps just a population exchange, as economic refugees (including about 22% of Maine's high-school graduates)escape in search of a life no longer available in Maine, while the liberal elite and throngs of the chronically dependant swarm in for refuge from the real world in the other 48 States between here and kalifornia.

Will sex-change operations and plastic surgery be included? Probably. Maine drifters should feel good about themselves - and no doubt have a right to, by golly!

And how long do we suppose it will be before legions of "Alternative Lifestyle" celebrants swarm into Maine riddled with AIDS and other various STDs not only to gain "Domestic Partner" status but to let Maine Taxpayers (such as can still be found) make them all better?

Stand by, Town Clerks, to register lots more Voters this year... (guess which party?).

Pretty soon they'll have a nice big casino (or several)here in Maine to blow their welfare and SSI checks in, too. Won't that be special?

Gee; I guess all the professional parasites of Middle America are going to have to flip a coin on which bus to catch to Socialist Utopia; the one going to Kalifornia, or the other one headed East to the People's Republik of Maine.

And to think; this used to be a pretty darned nice State to live in, too.

Pity.

UJ from ME

[LiberalBuster]

For better or worse, I'd much prefer the individual states deal with "universal health care" rather than the federal government impose a Ted "Red" Kennedy version on all the states. This is the way Federalism is supposed to work. If you don't like Maine's implementation, move elsewhere.