Upholding Maine Values in Our Health Care System

Scarborough Leader October 15th, 2009 - “Flaherty Responds to Flyer”

I want to first thank the Alliance for Maine’s Future for sparking a discussion on such a vital issue to all Maine taxpayers: health care and how best to achieve lower costs. They sent a district wide mailer explaining their view on LD290 and suggesting my vote back on May 13th, was opposed to the wellbeing of Mainers. While I don’t have the money to send a nice color printed piece to everyone in town, I am thankful that the Scarborough Leader is letting me set the record straight on this issue.

With one-in-five Mainers uninsured or underinsured, I am determined to be part of improving the state of health care in Maine. This past legislative session, I relentlessly worked with my colleagues – on both sides of the aisle – to bring equal and accessible healthcare coverage to all Mainers, healthcare that everyone can count on, healthcare that does not discriminate, and healthcare that protects each and every member of the community. And yet, time and time again, bad legislation is masked as good only to further divide and confuse Maine citizens.

LD290, as was proposed in the Maine Legislature, was a bill that would, simply put, hurt Maine citizens. This bill would have allowed insurance companies from out of state to sell insurance coverage without safeguards. Maine holds all its companies to the highest standards, and does not allow insurance companies to discriminate what Maine citizens it can and cannot insure, and I intend to make sure that Maine continues to treat all its citizens fairly.

If Maine were to pass LD290, insurance companies from out of state would have been able to deny Maine residents health care for any reason, from age to cancer to diabetes. This would result in skyrocketing numbers of newly uninsured Maine residents. And although those looking to misinform the public never mention it, LD290 would negate the consumer protections so important to a well-regulated system. Carriers from outside the state would have been exempt from Maine laws protecting consumers’ rights, and the state would no longer be able to aid consumers when they were denied coverage. Maine residents suddenly would have lost the power to defend themselves against the large insurance companies.

The Maine way has always been to look out for our neighbors. And as a Representative, I strive to protect not only the interests of my constituents, but to put forward policies for the wellbeing of the community. No issue is of more importance than making sure that every Maine man, woman, and child has the necessary coverage to live, learn, and love, but LD290 would only work to weaken an already faltering healthcare system.

Along with my colleagues in the Maine House of Representatives, I work to protect each Maine resident, but that means more than accepting the status quo, it means fighting to protect each citizen as a consumer, not as a profit. It means creating a healthcare system for the citizen not the insurance companies. But most of all, it means protecting Maine values of honesty, integrity, and prosperity. There are better ways to address lowering healthcare costs and expanding coverage, and it will take hard work. But with your continued support, we can create better Maine healthcare policies that work for ALL Mainers, not just a select few.