Turnout won’t deter insurance advocate Foundation representative reissues call for single-payer health care system

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Just one representative of an advocacy group turned out Monday for a public hearing here on health care matters held by the foundation formed with $82 million from the sale of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine.

The advocate, Jesse Graham of Maine People’s Alliance, had been at all five previous hearings around the state. He reiterated the alliance’s desire that the Maine Health Access Foundation Inc. financially support efforts to study and develop plans for a single-payer health insurance system for Maine.

The forum was designed to gather “information on Mainers’ perceptions, experiences, concerns and solutions to access to health care in Maine.” The poor turnout may have been due in part because school had been canceled for the day because of poor weather earlier in the day.

Despite the lack of public comment, Wolf said not all was lost. In the early afternoon the foundation had held a private, invitation-only session in Dover-Foxcroft that had 29 participants.

Dr. Wendy Wolf, executive director of the foundation, said such private sessions were held before all the public hearings and were closed to the public and media. The idea was that with closed doors there would be a freer exchange of ideas and perhaps creative proposals for dealing with health care problems in Maine.

Because there was no public comment other than Graham’s brief remarks, Wolf agreed to give an overview of the comments she had heard from more than 240 people at the recent hearings across the state.

She said the public is concerned about the lack of access to care, particularly in regard to dental care, she said. They also are worried about the worsening situation with private health insurance. Premiums are on the rise and there are fewer insurers in Maine. Many say the private insurance system in Maine is on the brink of crisis, she said.

Wolf said she thinks that even those who still have employer-provided private health insurance are moving more and more toward “underinsurance.” Some are trying to manage the rising premium price by opting for health insurance policies with ever higher deductibles, she said.

“We’re really moving toward a sickness insurance market than a health insurance market,” she said.

Wolf said the foundation, in addition to giving grants to help communities reduce barriers to health care access, wants to be a nonpartisan “convener for thoughtful discussion.”

To that end, the foundation published “A Primer on Health Care Coverage in Maine.” The 20-page pamphlet draws from state and national information on Maine’s health care and insurance trends. It shows, for instance, that 60 percent of Mainers get insurance through employers, 13 percent are uninsured, 12 percent get Medicare coverage, 12 percent Medicaid coverage, and just 5 percent buy their own insurance.

Wolf thinks the foundation, which is an independent, private, nonprofit organization, will be able to help craft innovative solutions to some problems. Many were suggested during the course of the public hearings, she said.

One that merits further attention is looking for a way to cover all the routine preventive care for Mainers outside private insurance, she said.