American Cancer Society - Falsehoods, erroneous statements on LD 1333
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Here's what the ACS is telling its members about LD 1333:
This is the bill that the insurance companies have been waiting for.
And, if you don’t act now, they just might get everything they want.
The Maine legislature is about to vote on a bill that would be devastating for cancer patients. It would allow health insurance companies to:
• Deny coverage for cancer survivors due to “pre-existing conditions”
• Force cancer survivors to pay higher rates for health insurance
• Require cancer patients living in rural areas to drive to Bangor, Portland or Boston for treatment
Send a message to your Maine legislators right now and insist that they oppose this terrible bill.
More uninsured cancer survivors. Less access to cancer treatment. Unreasonable and unaffordable rates for health insurance.
This is not what we elected our legislators to do.
We need you to help them understand the devastating consequences of this legislation for people impacted by cancer. They need to hear from voices in their districts and in their communities. They need to hear from you.
It only takes two minutes to send a message to your lawmakers. But the impact could save hundreds or even thousands of Maine lives every year.
Thank you for your quick action,
Hilary Schneider
Director, Government Relations and Advocacy
American Cancer Society
I have walked in many "walk-a-thons," collected donations, and even donated to the ACS myself - never again! Everything in this email is false. The ACS has become just another left-wing non-profit.
Mr. McKane: Please show evidence that the following is an untrue statement, given that cancer survivors are by definition high risk:
• Force cancer survivors to pay higher rates for health insurance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: LANCE DUTSON,
OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
LANCE.DUTSON@LEGISLATURE.MAINE.GOV
207-322-3843
TO: STATE HOUSE PRESS CORPS
RE: LD 1333 – AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY BLAST EMAIL
Last night, the American Cancer Society sent out a blast email about Rep. Richardson’s amendment to LD 1333 that contains a series of inaccurate statements. We are disappointed that the ACS would misinform its membership about the provisions of this bill, particularly since LD 1333 explicitly guards against increased rates or denial of coverage for those with chronic illness. Direct review of the legislation will show that the ACS has no factual backup for the claims they have made.
Following is a point-by-point review of the claims made by the ACS:
“The Maine legislature is about to vote on a bill that would be devastating for cancer patients. It would allow health insurance companies to:
Deny coverage for cancer survivors due to “pre-existing conditions”
FACT: LD 1333 explicitly forbids insurance carriers from denying coverage. Every Mainer has guaranteed access to individual health insurance plans.
Force cancer survivors to pay higher rates for health insurance
FACT: LD 1333 copies strategies that have been proven in other states to reduce costs for everyone, including the elderly and chronically ill. Insurance companies cannot charge different premiums based on health, just like current Maine law.
Require cancer patients living in rural areas to drive to Bangor, Portland or Boston for treatment
FACT: LD 1333 does not put any geographic mandates on anyone, particularly cancer patients. LD1333 does allow patients access to local care, but removes restrictions that deny patients access to more affordable care in other parts of the state. This will reduce premiums charged to businesses and individuals in rural areas.
“More uninsured cancer survivors.”
FACT: LD 1333 will provide more access to the 130,000 Mainers currently without coverage, by offering lower-priced health insurance plans, especially to the most vulnerable.
“Less access to cancer treatment.”
FACT: LD 1333 provides wider access to cancer treatment, both through removal of geographic monopolies and through lower health insurance premiums.
“Unreasonable and unaffordable rates for health insurance.”
FACT: LD 1333 allows more competition and a wider array of products for all Mainers. LD 1333 is modeled after the Idaho guarantee issue reinsurance plan. By comparison, a 40 year old in Maine pays $897 a month for the same plan that would cost $222 a month in Idaho. According to the Maine Bureau of Insurance’s own analysis, this plan will reduce health insurance premiums across the board.
For more information, please call Lance Dutson, Communications Director for the Speaker of the House, at 207-322-3843.
Apparently this is to be a PR war.
What can we do to help win it? Is there a full-court-press communications strategy, beyond press releases (excellent one here) that can be ignored?
Ethan Strimling this morning:
"[The bill would] take away your health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition."
LD 1333 bill does nothing to Maine's pre-existing exclusion clause and Maine will continue to have guaranteed renewability.
Mr. McKane: Please show evidence that the following is an untrue statement, given that cancer survivors are by definition high risk:
• Force cancer survivors to pay higher rates for health insurance
There is no difference in premiums for those who would qualify for the Guaranteed Access Plan.
What can we do to help win it?
Educate yourselves and then - letters to the editor, calls to radio talk shows, Facebook, Twitter, etc. They should not be allowed to get away with these false statements.
Thank you for responding, Mr. McKane.
Right out of the "LD 1 will lower property taxes by 15% statewide" play book, and the FUDDD campaign against TABOR.
Where there is no morality, there is no shame.
Maine Republican Party
ACTION ALERT
Contact:
Christie-Lee McNally,
Executive Director,
Maine Republican Party
207-622-6247
FEAR-BASED POLITICS: "CONSUMERS FOR AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE" - MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM
Maine GOP Calls on So-Called 'Consumer Group' to Stop the Lies
As legislation to reform Maine's health insurance market moves toward passage, a left-wing cabal of so-called 'consumer groups' is ramping up the false rhetoric. A group called 'Consumers for Affordable Health Care', run by former SEIU public relations coordinator Greg White, has begun spreading false claims that prey on the fears of the elderly and chronically ill.
White is spreading claims that LD 1333, the GOP health reform plan sponsored by Rep. Wes Richardson, would 'deny coverage to cancer survivors' , 'force cancer survivors to pay higher insurance rates', and 'require cancer patients living in rural areas to drive to Bangor, Portland or Boston for treatment'. All of these statements are demonstrably false.
LD 1333 is a comprehensive plan, based on a concept introduced by Democrat Rep. Don Pilon during the 123rd Legislature. It institutes a Guaranteed Access Plan that protects those with chronic illnesses, and implements market-based solutions to mirror states like Idaho that have dramatically lower health insurance premiums than Maine. Currently, a 40 year old in Maine pays $897 for an individual policy that would cost only $222 in Idaho. In addition, Maine has some of the highest deductibles in the nation - nearly 7 times the national average.
The Maine Republican Party is asking for citizens to call Greg White at Consumers for Affordable Health Care and tell him to stop spreading the lies.
White can be reached at 207-622-7083. Please call immediately and tell him it is unacceptable to prey on the fears of our most vulnerable in order to prop up a failed and onerously expensive health care program.
"Mainers need to stand up to left-wing bullies like Greg White," said Maine GOP Chair Charlie Webster. "Mainers have suffered under some of the highest insurance rates in the nation, and it is killing our economy. The working people of Maine deserve the same choices for insurance at the same rates as the rest of the nation, but partisan operatives like Consumers for Affordable Health Care don't want that to happen. We ask that the citizens of Maine call Greg White today and tell him it is unacceptable to spread these types of falsehoods with the intention of scaring the sick and elderly."
Call Greg White at "Consumers for Affordable Health Care" right now at 207-622-7083
Paid for and authorized by the Maine Republican Party | William P. Logan, Treasurer | 9 Higgins St. | Augusta | ME | 04330
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Maine lawmakers reject health care study
The Associated Press / Associated Press
Friday May 20, 2011
AUGUSTA, Maine -- The Senate on Thursday killed a bill (19-16) that would have authorized a study into whether government-run health care is feasible in the state....
Sen. Philip Bartlett II, D-Gorham. "Why are we afraid of that study? Are we afraid to learn something new?"
Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, said past studies have shown a single-payer system to be "totally unaffordable."
"We are moving toward an excellent plan," Snowe-Mello added.
Good. It's about time we stopped the distractions and got down to business.
Maine GOP Calls on So-Called 'Consumer Group' to Stop the Lies
They used to lie for Dirigo. Everything about them is false - starting with their name - They are no more a consumers group or for affordable health care than I am an astronaut.
I long ago quit donating to such charities as the American Cancer Society because of their lobbying efforts. I wrote to them and asked how they could in good conscience take donations and use it to lobby legislation and their reply was that all charities do it. Not so per the American Institute of Philanthropy, who rates charities as do Charity Navigator. It turns out that most of the leading large charities such as ACS and American Heart Assoc. are a big rip off. I even turned the ACS into the IRS and they did an investigation but would not tell me what they found.
Now my charity donations go to small local groups that don't know where Augusta is because they are too busy helping out the people in need. Go check these rating out before giving.
Health care survey results misrepresented
By John Picchiotti, Special to the BDN
Posted Sept. 16, 2011, at 1:34 p.m.
Last modified Sept. 16, 2011, at 5:04 p.m.
The Bangor Daily News’ decision to publish an editorial by Rep. Walter Kumiega on Maine’s new health care law is unfortunate (BDN, Sept. 12). It would be one thing if Kumiega were just misrepresenting the facts. But he is making them up out of whole cloth.
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/16/opinion/contributors/health-care-s...
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they are not alone.... here is an email I got from Maine Peoples Alliance
On Friday, April 29th, Republicans and the big insurance companies launched a surprise attack aimed at rolling back a wide range of health care protections for people in Maine.
Republican leaders attached a complex, 29-page amendment to a bill (LD1333) in the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, refused to give members of the Committee or the public a chance to read or understand the radical changes it contained, and rammed it through on a party-line vote after less than an hour of debate.
Now it's being rushed through the full Legislature! Sign the petition here to help us stop this bill from becoming law.
The changes proposed in this bill would allow insurance companies to charge more based on your age and where you live and insurers could bypass Maine regulations by setting up shop in another state with weaker protections and selling policies across state lines.
The bill would also allow insurers to refuse to cover some Mainers and force them into a high-risk pool funded by the state. The result? Insurance companies will get all the profit and the people of Maine will bear the costs.
Even the bill's supporters admit that it was written by the insurance companies and the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a right-wing political organization.
This is an attack on seniors, the sick, small business owners, and people who live in rural Maine.
Please help us stop it by adding your name to the petition here.
We don't have much time!
Republican leaders are fast-tracking the bill to get it passed before anyone figures out what they're doing. A vote in the legislature could happen as early as Thursday!
We have to act now to stop this. Please sign the petition here.
Jennie Pirkl
MPA Health Care Organizer
jennie@mainepeoplesalliance.org