Two years ago this week the most sweeping health care reform in our nation’s history was signed into law by President Barack Obama. Major portions of the law are yet to take effect, but it’s still worth stepping back for a minute and taking a look at who in Maine has already started to benefit from this historic reform.
Ninety-one thousand women. Let’s start with that figure. That’s how many women in our state have access to preventive services such as mammograms and pap smears thanks to health care reform. And starting this August, they will also get no-cost coverage for things such as contraception and domestic violence screening.
Seven thousand young adults. One of the most popular provisions of the new law is the one that allows parents to keep their children on their policies until age 26. As anyone who has raised kids through the college years knows, they can use all the help they can get as they head off into the work world. As parents, we want to make sure they have access to the health care they need and, thanks to the health care reform law, parents can do that through their own insurance coverage.
Twelve thousand seniors. The health care reform law will eventually close the dreaded “doughnut hole” for seniors, but already it has made it easier for them to afford prescription drugs. Over 12,000 seniors in Maine received a $250 rebate to help cover their prescription drugs when they hit the doughnut hole in 2010. And about the same number got a 50 percent discount on brand name prescriptions last year. With the average discount ringing in at over $500, that adds up to some significant savings for Maine seniors.
Four-hundred and thirty thousand men, women and children. These Mainers no longer have to worry that their insurance coverage may run out if they face a long-term illness such as cancer. The health care reform law bans lifetime limits on coverage and starting in 2014 bans annual limits as well. Insurance is supposed to protect us from worst-case scenarios, not run out just when we need it the most.
Every single Maine resident. No longer will insurance companies be able to cancel our policies when we get sick. It’s sad that it took a new law to end this ruthless practice, but it did.
Let me be clear — this law tackles an enormously complex system and there are bound to be parts of it that will need some more work. And many, myself included, felt that in some ways the law didn’t go far enough.
But the truth is that real benefits of health care reform are already starting to be felt by individuals across Maine and around the country. Unfortunately, the same opponents of health care reform who fought the law in the first place are now trying to repeal it in Congress. Just this week the House passed one of several bills that would roll back some of the most important aspects of reform.
If it were up to Republicans in Congress, the insurance companies would be allowed to keep classifying being a woman as a pre-existing condition. They would put decisions about your health care back in the hands of insurance company CEOs. And they would repeal coverage for preventive medicine that will help keep all of us healthier and lower costs for everyone in the years to come.
Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, is a member of Congress representing Maine’s 1st District.
Chellie uses 570 words to say: “I gave something ‘free’ to some of you by stealing the rest of you blind.”
We all pay taxes, your argument is false and ridiculous.
No we don’t all pay taxes. I can walk 2 blocks from my office and point out a half dozen that don’t.
Yes, we do all pay taxes. There are many kinds of taxes. I don’t know what kind of busybody you are, investigating “half a dozen” people that somehow get around all forms of taxation, but I can assure you they’re likely imaginary.
If Cheesy doesn’t pay fuel taxes then by his own logic he doesn’t pay taxes.
I guess if you walk you at least don’t pay fuel taxes !
No point in coughing up more than you have to.
What are we getting for free, exactly?
I thought this a very well worded and thoughtful article providing the citizens of this state with all of this information in a clear and concise manner, that is until I got to the last paragraph. I wish Ms. Pingree would recognize the fact that political party division in this country is what’s preventing many pieces of fine legislation from ever coming in to law. We need representatives in congress that are willing to work for all of us not just the percentage that leans their way. This partisan politics has got to stop and if she won’t perhaps her replacement will !
some of us. are in need of help [ healthcare], others want us to die.
It’s funny how you failed to mention the cost side of this beast. The original 10 year cost estimate was $938 billion. This of course was a lie, as it reflected essentially only 6 years of benefits and 10 years of new taxes/fees. This year the estimate was re-done, which reflects 8 years of benefits and 10 years of new taxes/fees; cost is now estimated to be $1.76 trillion! This, of course, is not the final, real cost. The original cost estimate was a fraud – as is this whole unconstitutional law. You cannot ignore the cost of this monster when the country is $16 trillion in debt, and growing faster than Obama’s lies. Oh yes, lies also from Pelosi, Reed, Boxer, Durbin, Kerry, Waters, Pingree, Sanders (oh, wait, some may be communists), and all the rest of those interested more in their re-election than the health of anyone.
As for the coverage of contraceptives (along with sterilization and drugs that cause abortion, which you conveniently failed to mention). this is beyond absurd! Why should every American be forced to pay for something that is fundamentally against their beliefs, their religion?
This law is so intrusive it makes me sick. The Supreme Court needs to knock this down; throw the whole thing out. It is unconstitutional. It takes away far too much freedom.
This thing isn’t insurance. Much of it is outright handouts. And, if you think this pig of a law is going to lower costs – well, if it does it will set a record of being the 1st program like this to ever save money. This thing is going to cost far more than even the largest cost estimate.
President Obama pushed a do-nothing Congress into Health Care reform. It may not be perfect but the status quo had become unacceptable. Left to its own devices, Congress would have done nothing.
Doesn’t look like health care reform to me. More, like who is going to pay the bills for “free” care. If it is the government and it is free someone else is paying your bill. Estimates on the costs were “sold” to the gullible public as being in the billions. Now it is trillions. So far have seen little in reform to health care delivery, actual health care costs (other than shifting costs from one group to another), or torte reform.
This shows how little Chellie knows about Maine health insurance. We already have no lifetime limts. We already cover pap smears. We already allow parents to keep kids on their policies until age 26. Insurance companies have not been able to cancel you due to a sickness in Maine or anywhere in the country for a long time. But hey, she’s a liberal Democrat and she will be thanked and praised for her work on this new law that going to cost Mainers big time.
Could you point out the legislation that would prevent Health Insurers from kicking you off their policies for any reason once you got sick? I think the complaint is these businesses would take your money up front, then when your care got costly go through your application to find out if there was any reason they could NOW deny you coverage.
If I have time I can look for the statute. Maine has had this law for quite sometime as well as guaranteed issue and guaranteed renewability. They simply can not kick you off or not renew your policy for health reasons – just make sure you pay your premiums.