It’s enough to make you sick

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    For those of us who’ve lived in Maine for the past 40 years or so, health insurance has usually been expensive unless you’re poor, elderly or fortunate enough to have an employer pick up part of the tab.
    Along comes the Affordable Health Care Act, better known as Obamacare. It was designed to give everyone access to medical care and keep premiums within a reasonable price range.

    So far, insurance through the Affordable Health Care Act doesn’t appear to be affordable unless you live in a populous state where you can choose from several carriers.
    Before Affordable Health Care, Maine’s health insurance market was dominated by Anthem Blue Cross. It still is.
    Maine Community Health Options is the alternate choice. It’s the first-ever health insurance co-op, a non-profit group governed by its members.
    But with only two companies offering policies through Obamacare, what’s the incentive for keeping premiums reasonable? Answer: probably none.
    Complicating matters is the meltdown of the online exchange. The president showed his frustration last week, noting that he never dreamed that the centerpiece of his administration would fall victim to a massive computer glitch.
    Maine is one of 26 states that haven’t set up their own health insurance exchange, thus forcing consumers to navigate the federal system. We’re not sure if that’s a good idea or not, but the state has already had a bad experience with another well-intended insurance program.
    Remember Dirigo Health? It was also designed to offer affordable coverage. The $50 million investment to get the program off the ground came from federal stimulus funds.
    Former Gov. John Baldacci and his supporters thought that it would be revenue-neutral in a few years. It wasn’t — not even close.
    According to a study by the Wall Street Journal, Dirigo Health cost taxpayers $155 million in five years. The number of people who signed up never reached a level to make the program self-supporting and premiums didn’t vary much from policies offered by commercial carriers.
    Two years ago, the Maine Legislature thought it was a good idea to eliminate guaranteed issue and community ratings from insurance policies.
    State laws used to require that everyone be offered insurance coverage at a specific cost without taking existing conditions or geography into consideration.
    So they took down those barriers. As a result, many individuals and small business owners in rural areas were hammered with huge premium increases. Supporters urged everyone to give the reforms time to work. Opponents were skeptical.
    So here are a few facts to ponder.
    Insurance companies aren’t going to beat down the doors to serve a rural state with an aging population when they can make more money elsewhere.
    We enjoy our quality of life, but we better be prepared to pay for it.
    And when you get government involved in something as complicated as health insurance, chances are they’ll screw up it up.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.