Health insurance companies would have you believe a single-payer universal health insurance system would be a bad idea for Maine. They would tell you that it equates to government getting into your health care. They play upon people’s legitimate fears of big government to keep you from really looking at what a single-payer system is and what it would mean for Maine.

We currently have a huge health care crisis where everyone is suffering from ever-increasing costs and more and more people are losing insurance. One hundred sixty-five thousand Mainers are without insurance; 129,000 of those are people who are working but still cannot afford coverage for themselves and their families. Our current system isn’t working.

Right now we have many health insurance companies operating in Maine, for a profit. Here are some facts the insurance companies don’t want you to know. Thirteen percent of all U.S. health care dollars go to over-head, advertising and profits. In Canada, only 1 percent goes to these costs. Insurance companies’ overhead is 9 percent to 30 percent vs. only 5 percent to administer Medicaid.

When you spend millions of dollars on profits and salaries, such as $15.7 million for Anthem’s chief executive officer in 2001, you can’t help but have skyrocketing costs. It’s time to make health care about care and not profits.

The insurance companies also don’t want you to look into the real facts about a single-payer system. A single-payer system would create one nonprofit insurance company which would cover everyone in the state. It is estimated that we would save $400 million to $600 million annually in Maine with this system, so it wouldn’t cost as much as you might think. It would even cost less for some businesses and individuals.

Costs would be controlled by spreading them out among all of us and having a large enough pool to bargain effectively for essentials such as medicines. Yes, this is a big change. And it would all be worth it. We would all have peace of mind that all our loved ones are covered. We are one of only three industrialized countries that doesn’t have universal coverage. We know it can work. You don’t need to take my word for it. Research the facts for yourself.

Maine is independent. We don’t wait for the federal government to have the courage to make real changes. We are at a crucial point in time. Our elected Maine officials are currently reviewing numerous health care bills all aiming to address our health care crisis. They are committed to making positive changes.

Please contact your representatives and urge them to work to take profits out of health care and to have true universal coverage. Let no Mainer be left behind.

Summer Sunderland is a graduate student in social work at the University of Maine.