State Information: Maine
This state-specific page on Maine provides new materials published by Families USA, key health contacts, state government links, news and views from the state, and other resources that might be helpful to Maine advocates. Click on the links below to view the information you are interested in.
Key Health Contacts
Consumers for Affordable Health Care
P.O. Box 2490
36 Green Street
Augusta, ME 04338
Phone: 207-622-7045
Toll Free: 800-838-0388 & 800-965-7476
Fax: 207-622-7077
Email: consumerhealth@maineahc.org
Website: www.mainecahc.org
Consumers for Affordable Health Care (CAHC) is Maine's largest consumer coalition. Its mission is to advocate for the right to quality health care for every man, woman, and child.
Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging
PO Box 5414
Augusta, ME 04332
Maine Children's Alliance
303 State Street
Augusta, ME 04330
Phone: 207-623-1868
Fax: 207-626-3302
Website: http://www.mainechildrensalliance.org/
Maine Equal Justice Partners
126 Sewall Street
Augusta, ME 04011
Phone: 207-626-7058
Toll Free: 866-626-7059
Fax: 207-621-8148
Email: websitecontact@mejp.org
Website: www.mejp.org
Maine People's Alliance
565 Congress Street Suite 200
Portland, ME 04101
Phone: 207-797-0967
Fax: 207-797-4716
Email: mpa@mainpeoplesalliance.org
Maine People's Alliance is the state's largest grassroots citizen action group. The Alliance focuses on health care reform and toxics use prevention.
Prescription Policy Choices
PO Box 204
Hallowell, ME 04347
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State Government Links
State of Maine Website
Website for the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance
The Website for Cubcare, the state's Child Health Insurance Program, includes eligibility guidelines and information on how to apply.
Check out this website for more information on Maine Children's Health.
Visit the Department of Human Services page of the state's website for more information on Medicaid-related issues.
State Bureau of Insurance Website
Senior Health Insurance Program
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Other Resources
Selling Health Insurance across State Lines: An Assessment of State Laws and Implications for Improving Choice and Affordability of Coverage analyzes the implementation of laws in six states (GA, KY, ME, RI, WA, and WY) that allow the sale of insurance across state lines. Although these laws were designed to enhance consumer choice, to increase competition, and to make insurance more affordable, the complexities of how insurance is sold and regulated have deterred insurance companies from entering new markets, thereby undermining the laws’ goals. (October 2012) [Center on Health Insurance Reforms]
Dying for Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured estimates the number of Americans who are dying prematurely due to lack of health coverage. It includes state-level data that are broken down by week, month, and year that were generated using the methodology originally developed by the Institute of Medicine. (June 2012) [Families USA]
Decoding Your Health Insurance: The New Summary of Benefits and Coverage provides national and state-level data on the nearly 173.5 million people with private insurance who will be helped by these plain-language summaries that are required by the health care law. (May 2012) [Families USA]
Good Business Sense: The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit in the Affordable Care Act provides national and state-level estimates of the number of small businesses that will be eligible for this tax credit and of how much the credits will be worth. It also includes data on how many workers could benefit as a result, broken down according to racial and ethnic group. (May 2012) [Families USA and Small Business Majority]
The Bottom Line: How the Affordable Care Act Helps America's Families shows the net financial effects of the Affordable Care Act on family budgets. We found that lower- and middle-income families, both uninsured and insured, will be financial winners. | State Reports (October 2011) [Families USA]
States Making Progress on Rate Review highlights state efforts to protect consumers from unreasonable increases in insurance premiums. It also explains provisions of the Affordable Care Act that encourage improvements to states' rate review processes. (October 2011) [Families USA]
Medicaid's Impact in the States: Helping People with Serious Health Care Needs examines how vital Medicaid is for residents with cancer, diabetes, chronic lung disease, or heart disease or stroke. For these people, Medicaid can be the difference between life and death, and program cuts would put them at risk. Released in partnership with three other groups. (September 2011) [Families USA]
Jobs at Risk: Federal Medicaid Cuts Would Harm State Economies provides state-level data that show the devastating impact the House Republican budget proposal would have. The proposal's substantial Medicaid cuts would harm program enrollees and their families and lead to a loss of business activity and jobs in all states. | Calculator (June 2011) [Families USA]
Cutting Medicaid in the States: Harming Seniors and People with Disabilities Who Need Long-Term Care provides state-specific numbers on how many people would be affected by cuts to Medicaid long-term care spending, as well as how Medicaid helps families, state workers, and businesses. (May 2011) [Families USA]
House Republicans Propose to Slash Funding for Medicaid, Medicare, and Other Health Coverage Programs takes a closer look at how the recent budget proposal would harm seniors, children, and state economies, including state-specific numbers. (April 2011) [Families USA]
States Are Benefitting from Provisions of the Affordable Care Act lists the number of people in each state who are already benefiting from each of five provisions. The provisions include measures that are helping small businesses provide coverage to their workers, helping seniors get free preventive care, and protecting children with pre-existing conditions. | Table (March 2011) [Families USA]
Protecting Seniors and People with Disabilities: Why It Is Important to Preserve the Maintenance of Effort Requirement in the Affordable Care Act discusses how stripping the maintenance of effort requirement from the ACA will have negative consequences for the many people who depend on Medicaid by allowing states to change eligibility requirements. (February 2011) [Families USA]
Worry Less Spend Less: Out-of-Pocket Spending Caps Protect America's Families examines how the Affordable Care Act will protect insured people from high medical costs through new caps on out-of-pocket spending. It provides state-level estimates of how many residents will have spending that exceeds these caps and by how much, and it looks at how many of those residents work for small businesses. (February 2011) [Families USA]
Rate Review: Spotlight on State Efforts to Make Health Insurance More Affordable provides the results of a survey of 50 state rate review statutes and follow-up interviews with insurance regulators in 10 states (AK, CT, CO, ID, LA, ME, OH, PA, SC, and WI) to find out how rate regulation works in practice. (December 2010) [Kaiser Family Foundation]
Lower Taxes, Lower Premiums: The New Health Insurance Tax Credit examines how this tax credit will help both insured and uninsured Americans. It provides data on the number of people eligible, the total dollars available, and on how it will help working families in particular. (September 2010) [Families USA]
A Helping Hand for Small Businesses: Health Insurance Tax Credits analyzes the health reform provision that provides tax credits to small employers to help them buy health coverage for their workers. This report, which was commissioned along with Small Business Majority, provides national and state-level data on the number of small businesses eligible for the credit in 2010, as well as the number eligible for the maximum tax credit. (July 2010) [Families USA]
Beyond Affordability: The Impact of Nonfinancial Barriers on Access for Uninsured Adults in Three Diverse Communities looks at the types of nonfinancial barriers to health care faced by low-income, uninsured adults and how nonfinancial and financial barriers interact. The survey of low-income, uninsured adults in California, Maine, and Texas suggests that, while financial barriers are the most common, many uninsured adults also face nonfinancial barriers to health care. (June 2010) [Journal of Community Health] Subscription Required
Health Reform: New Opportunities for States to Invest in Home- and Community-Based Services is a series of state-specific fact sheets that explore the new options for states to expand home- and community-based services through the health reform law and the reasons why expanding this type of services is a good idea. (Summer 2010) [Families USA]
Health Reform: Help for Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions discusses how, under health reform, no one will be denied coverage, charged a higher premium, or sold a policy that excludes coverage of essential benefits because of pre-existing conditions. The report presents the number of Americans with diagnosed pre-existing conditions who, absent reform, would be at risk of being denied coverage in the individual insurance market. It breaks down this number by age, income, and race. (May 2010) [Families USA]
How Health Reform Helps the People of Maine looks at the many benefits that health reform will bring to the state, including cracking down on insurance company abuses, ending runaway premiums, and providing financial security. (May 2010) [Families USA]
Health Coverage in Maine: How Will Health Reform Help? discusses the major gaps in Maine's health coverage system and how health reform will address these gaps and help Mainers, including the insured, the uninsured, people in Medicare, and small businesses. (March 2010) [Families USA]
Lives on the Line: The Deadly Consequences of Delaying Health Reform examines what would happen if Congress fails to pass health reform. Specifically, it provides national and state-level estimates of the number of deaths that would occur due to lack of health coverage if reform doesn't pass. It also quantifies how many Americans died due to lack of health coverage since the last effort to pass reform in 1994. (March 2010) [Families USA]
Guide to Finding Health Coverage: Maine Millions of Americans have no health insurance, and finding health insurance can be difficult. If you are looking for coverage, this guide can help point the way. Whether you have recently lost your job, are an early retiree, or have a serious medical condition, this guide includes numerous resources that may help you find the coverage you need. (Updated 2009) [Families USA]
Healthcare Reform Will Help Maine's Small Businesses examines how the state's small businesses struggle with high health insurance premiums and how health reform will address this problem, making health insurance more affordable for businesses and individuals. (September 2009) [Small Business Majority]
Five Reasons Why Mainers Need Federal Health Care Reform describes why (1) too many Mainers lack health insurance, (2) too many Mainers have high health costs, (3) Maine earnings can't keep up with skyrocketing premiums, (4) Mainers die due to lack of coverage, and (5) Maine's economy will benefit from federal Medicaid investments. (May 2009) [Families USA]
The Uninsured: A Closer Look–Mainers without Health Insurance examines how many state residents were uninsured during 2007-2008. The report also takes a closer look at the number of uninsured, who they are, and how long they were uninsured. It mirrors the data in our national report, Americans at Risk: One in Three Uninsured. (March 2009) [Families USA]
Maine State Expansions visit here for archival information on expansions within the state. (Last updated 2009) [Families USA]
Premiums versus Paychecks: A Growing Burden for Maine's Workers. The impact of changes in employer-based health insurance premiums and earnings in Maine. (September 2008) [Families USA]
Bad Medicine: The President's Medicaid Regulations Will Weaken Maine's Economy States are facing a recession and reduced revenues. In 2007, the Bush Administration issued seven new regulations that together will strip an estimated $50 billion in federal funds from states over the next five years. These state-specific reports quantify the harm that these regulations will cause to state economies in terms of lost federal dollars, business activity, jobs, and wages. (April 2008) [Families USA]
Dying for Coverage in Maine For the more than 47 million Americans who are uninsured, lack of health insurance can have dire consequences: medical debt, missed care, and even premature death. This first-ever state-specific report examines the number of deaths due to lack of health insurance. (April 2008) [Families USA]
Maine's Dirigo Health Reform of 2003 is a thorough examination of the state's health care expansion. It discusses program eligibility, how much people pay for the different types of coverage, what benefits they receive, how the expansion is financed, how it reforms the state's insurance regulations, lessons learned so far, and the future of health reform in Maine. (November 2007) [Families USA]
Guide to Finding Health Insurance Coverage: Millions of Americans have no health insurance, and finding health insurance can be difficult. If you are looking for coverage, this guide can help point the way. Whether you have recently lost your job, are an early retiree, or have a serious medical condition, this guide includes numerous resources that may help you find the coverage you need. (Updated March 2007) [Families USA]
No Shelter from the Storm: Maine's Uninsured Children. This fact sheet takes a closer look at uninsured children in Maine—who they are and what kinds of services they miss out on as a result of being uninsured. Written by Families USA for the Campaign for Children's Health Care. (September 2006) [Families USA]
Universal Coverage Proposed: Gov. John Baldacci signed the Dirigo Health Reform Act into law in June 2003. The law aims to expand MaineCare (Medicaid) to cover more people and build a new Dirigo Health Insurance plan to offer coverage for workers in small businesses, the self-employed, and those who don't have access to employer coverage.
- For more information on the act and its implementation, see the Dirigo Health Web site.
- The Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance has released Myths vs Facts on Dirigo Health Reform and a chart showing the number of businesses and members enrolled in DirigoChoice by town.
NACHRI, in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has released 2005 updates of their state-specific Medicaid fact sheets. These fact sheets detail the importance of the Medicaid program to the health care of children in every state, as well as the critical role children's hospitals and pediatricians play in serving all children. Click here for a map that will take you to information specific to your state. (July 2005) [National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI)]
Paying a Premium: The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured in Maine: A fact sheet with state-level data showing the dollar impact on private health insurance premiums of care provided to the uninsured. (June 2005) [Families USA]
Medicaid Cuts Are Bad Medicine: This fact sheet describes how Medicaid helps your state's economy, supports the state's health care infrastructure, provides essential health care to the most vulnerable residents, and reduces the number of uninsured. (January 2005) [Families USA]
The Uninsured: A Closer Look: A fact sheet with state-level data from One in Three: Non-Elderly Americans without Health Insurance, 2002-2003. (June 2004) [Families USA]
Good Medicine for State Economies, 2004 Update: Medicaid provides essential health care services for an estimated 51 million people of all ages and economic classes. Medicaid also plays a unique role in stimulating state economies. This report provides national and state-level data on the effects of Medicaid spending on state business activity, employment, and employee earnings. These updated numbers can be used to predict the economic impact of potential state Medicaid spending increases or cuts in fiscal year 2005.| Medicaid Calculator with updated figures (May 2004) [Families USA]
Who's Uninsured in Maine and Why? is a four-page fact sheet providing information on the uninsured population in the state -- their numbers and characteristics and some of the reasons they are uninsured. (November 2003) [Families USA]
Families USA has prepared state fact sheets that spell out the different amounts of help the House and Senate Medicare prescription drug bills would provide to low-income beneficiaries. Click here for this state's fact sheet. (July 2003) [Families USA]
Your Right to Free Hospital Care outlines Maine residents' rights to hospital care regardless of their ability to pay. (November 1997) [Pine Tree Legal Assistance]
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