Measures could help uninsured workers

AUGUSTA – Kristen O’Brien can barely write or open a jar at home. And her wrists and joints ache when she pots plants at a Kennebunk nursery or washes dishes at her other job at a restaurant.

In November, she reluctantly took time off from work and paid $60 to see a doctor, who suspected arthritis pending further tests. “But I can’t afford to have the testing done,” said O’Brien, 23, of Scarborough.

O’Brien is among as many as 165,000 Mainers, or 13 percent of the state population, who have no health insurance.

Advocates are hopeful that the state, despite a major budget shortfall, will go ahead with a plan to offer Medicaid to 16,000 of those uninsured adults starting in October.

The bulk of the uninsured population are low-wage workers like O’Brien, who earns less than $12,000 a year. Another segment is composed of the self-employed who cannot afford individual plans.

They have one thing in common: They don’t have enough money to buy private health insurance, yet do not qualify for public assistance.

At first glance, the current legislative session does not seem likely to bring about major changes for uninsured Mainers. For starters, lawmakers began the session facing a $250 million shortfall.

But consumer advocates are upbeat, especially about the bill from House Speaker Michael Saxl, D-Portland, calling for a state-sponsored insurance pool for small businesses and the self-employed.

Advocates also have high hopes for a program outlined in another Saxl bill approved last year. The program would offer Medicaid to 16,000 low-income, childless adults who would not have ordinarily met the requirements for the state-federal health insurance program.

Its October launch date has recently come into question. Gov. Angus King has proposed that the appropriation of $3.9 million for the program be put off for a year, as he has with all new initiatives, a spokesman said.

Chris Hastedt, executive director of the Maine Equal Justice Project, is hopeful that lawmakers, who passed the bill in the House, 82-35, and the Senate, 32-1, will protest.

Without the state funding, the program would lose $7.8 million from the federal government, which matches the state’s Medicaid dollars by 2-1. More importantly, she said, the uninsured cannot afford to wait indefinitely for health care.

“I think people will suffer and they will get sicker,” said Hastedt, who worked on the bill with Saxl. “People avoid treatment when they don’t have coverage. They’re going to need more costly care when they finally end up at the hospital emergency room, and that’s not good for everyone.”

O’Brien welcomes any relief for the uninsured. Several weeks ago, she testified at the State House in favor of funding the plan even though she makes more than the $8,592 cutoff for singles.

“People who are my age and older who maybe don’t have the education or the means to get a job that does have health care are left in the cold as they struggle to pay their rent and heat each month,” she said.