Health Access Network

Support L.D. 1935 An Act to
Protect Health Insurance Consumers

LD 1935 Fact Sheet

WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW.
On Tuesday , February 14th at 2:30 pm, the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, of the Maine State Legislature will conduct a Public Hearing on LD 1935. This legislation, sponsored by Senator Martin of Aroostook County, protects health insurance consumers by prohibiting health insurance carries, notably Anthem, from pocketing the cost savings generated by the Dirigo Health Program, and then sticking it to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

Dirigo Health, the nation's landmark approach to expanding access to quality Health Care for small business owners, their employees, and individuals has been a great success. The key to its success has been its ability to control health care costs and generate significant savings across the health care system. Under the original compromise that established the Dirigo Health Program, those savings are to be captured (through a feature called the Savings Offset Payment) and put into discounts on health care coverage in order to provide Maine's hardworking small business owners and working families with increased access to affordable quality health care.

Now Maine insurers want to break that agreement by refusing to share the savings with the people of Maine. They are attempting to pocket these savings as industry profit, and then bill consumers in the form of higher premiums. That's not fair!

SPEAK OUT In Favor of LD 1935.

This bill would:

• Protect consumers
  By prohibiting Anthem and other insurance carriers from pocketing the savings generated by Dirigo Health (in large part due to the good faith efforts of health providers to keep costs down), they will not be allowed to pass their responsibility on to policyholders in the form of higher premiums.
  
• Protect Dirigo Health and Dirigo Choice
  The Savings Offset Payment assessment placed on the insurance industry is the engine that keeps Dirigo Health running and allows the program to offer affordable health care coverage to Maine people.
  
• Provide Increased Access to Quality Health Care
  Dirigo Health and DirigoChoice have been an incredible success by making quality health care affordable to Maine's Small Business Owners, Working Families and thousands of individuals who were previously uninsured.
  

HOW CAN I HELP?

1) Testify or Submit Testimony on February 14th at 2:30 pm

• You or your organization can testify or submit written testimony on February 14th supporting LD 1935.
  
• The public hearing will be held by the Insurance and Financial Services Committee (IFS) in Room 208 of the Cross State Office Building (BRED Committee Room). If you testify or submit written testimony, please bring 20 copies of your testimony so the committee clerk can distribute them to legislators on the IFS committee.

3) Contact Legislators

• Call or email members of the IFS committee (see list below) and tell them that you are supporting LD 1935 and ask them to vote the bill out of committee "Ought To Pass"
  
• If you live in the district of one of the legislators serving on the committee make sure you let them know you live in his/her district.
  
• You can call toll free and leave a message for any State Representative by calling 1-800-423-2900.
  
• You can call toll free and leave a message for any State Senator by calling 1-800-423-6900.
  
• See below for a list of legislators on the IFS Committee and how to find email addresses for legislators.

4) Contact Family, Friends, and the Media

• Please forward this email or any other relevant information to family and friends and ask them to support LD 1935
  
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to inform your neighbors about LD1935 and encourage them to contact their local representatives in the State Legislature to let them know this is not the right policy for Maine.

HELPFUL INFORMATION

• Email addresses for Senate members: http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/homepage.htm
  
• Email addresses for House members: http://janus.state.me.us/house/e_mail.htm
  Find your Representative and Senator by location.
  Contact information provided at http://janus.state.me.us/house/townlist.htm
  
• Email address for Bill information including text: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/externalsiteframe.asp?
  ID=280020051&LD=1935&Type=1&SessionID=6
  
• The following members serve on the IFS committee:
  Senator Nancy B. Sullivan (D-York), Chair
  Senator Arthur F. Mayo III (D-Sagadahoc)
  Senator Peter Mills (R-Somerset)
  Representative Anne C. Perry (D-Calais), Chair
  Representative Lisa T. Marraché (D-Waterville)
  Representative John R. Brautigam (D-Falmouth)
  Representative Charles William Harlow (D-Portland)
  Representative Donald E. Pilon (D-Saco)
  Representative Kevin J. Glynn (R-South Portland), Ranking Minority Member
  Representative Michael A. Vaughan (R-Durham)
  Representative R. Kenneth Lindell (R-Frankfort)
  Representative Jonathan B. McKane (R-Newcastle)
  Representative Wesley E. Richardson (R-Warren)

See the following website for links to contact information for IFS Committee members: http://janus.state.me.us/house/jt_com/ban.htm

Together we can
tell Maine Insurers, "A Deal Is A Deal"!
It's time to pay their fair share and not stick Maine's working families and small businesses with the bill while pocketing profits they did not earn!