The Maine Problem is . . .

Seems the folks in Maine are lobbying outside the offices of their RINO senators (Snowe & Collins), trying to get them to support the health care for all initiative.

You may recall, Sen's Snowe and Collins were two defectors from the Republican ranks that led to Senate passage of the pork filled Spendulus Bill. The $800+ billion package of taxpayer money that promised to save or create jobs.

So far the only thing it has created is a bigger hole in the federal budget.

But I digress . . .

So perhaps because Snowe and Collins seem to be an easy touch for spending money Congress doesn't have, Maine-iacs are lining up voicing their support for massive health care reform.

In Presque Isle, Ms. Matson and others recruited by the Service Employees International Union, delivered dozens of handwritten letters to Ms. Snowe’s office. The union is campaigning for a so-called public option — a government-run insurance plan, similar to Medicare but open to more people, to compete with private companies.

I often wonder what these folks really know about Medicare. Good chance they are totally misinformed or else they would not be chanting for an expansion of Medicare.

Though Maine has only 1.3 million residents, the challenges of insuring the entire population are complex. The state has large rural, poor and elderly populations with significant health needs. It has many small businesses and seasonal workers, and few employers large enough to voluntarily offer employees insurance. Meanwhile, most insurers no longer find it profitable to sell individual coverage here, leaving a few companies to dominate the market.

Let us not overlook the reason why there are only a few companies operating in Maine.

Maine is a guaranteed issue, community rated state. Any carrier offering health insurance in the Badger state must offer coverage to anyone regardless of their health history. Not only that, but they must charge a rate that is commensurate with others who have similar coverage within a geographic area.

Perhaps this is why Maine has some of the highest health insurance rates in the country.

But back to the topic at hand, the folks in Maine want a federal bailout, much like GM and Chrysler. Their own Dirigo plan is belly up so they want the rest of the country to pony up to pay for their problems.

I have a better idea.

Why not just secede from the union and become part of New Brunswick, Canada. After all, Canada's health care solution is so much better than ours.

Actually part of Maine's problem is their own doing. If the state government would quit meddling with health insurance rules and allow free market rule more carriers would enter the market and premiums would become more affordable.

Of course some residents have their own idea.

Stavros Mendros, a consultant from Lewiston, is equally wary of insurance companies but his solution is to avoid them completely and risk going without coverage. Mr. Mendros said that when his 4-year-old daughter got sick recently, he took her to the hospital and paid the $1,200 bill, which he said was cheaper than a single month of an insurance premium for his family would be.

“Not having insurance saves me boatloads of money,” he said. “My biggest concern with the government taking over health care is the waiting lists. My daughter didn’t have to wait. I’d rather have a bill than a dead daughter.”

Saving boatloads of money. Easy to say when the bill is only $1200.

I doubt he would be singing the same tune had the bill been $120,000.

As the lead opposition to the Democratic plan in Maine, Mr. Bragdon has emphasized the failures of the state’s own experiment with universal health care, a law enacted in 2003 with the goal of covering all the state’s roughly 130,000 uninsured residents by this year. The plan currently covers only a small fraction of the target, partly because the state capped enrollment because of financing problems.

That number would be 8,300 . . .

How's this working for you?