With high premiums and overpriced prescription medication, health care is becoming out of reach for too many working families and seniors.
Our state representatives can do something about it by passing LD 1463: An Act To Make Health Care Coverage More Affordable for Working Families and Small Businesses. This bill would continue the federal healthcare assessment (HIA) on a state level and use the new revenue to make healthcare more affordable.
The federal HIA was a fee that private insurance companies paid to access the healthcare market - by paying this fee, they could expand their customer base.
When this fee ended under the Trump administration, private insurance companies saw their profits soar. Meanwhile, Mainers and people all over the country are struggling to afford the basic care they need to be healthy.
LD 1463 would continue this assessment on the state level, which could bring in around $30 million in revenue for the state. Sign here to tell your representatives to pass LD 1463!
This revenue stream could be used to fund programs to lower premiums or reduce out-of-pocket costs for Mainers. It also will help close the “family glitch.”
The family glitch affects thousands of working families who can’t afford a family plan offered through an employer, but because the employed family member can afford a self-only plan, the rest of the family loses eligibility for marketplace subsidies.
Every single person deserves affordable and quality health care. Period. Continuing the Health Insurance Assessment at the state level will help Maine achieve that.