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Insurance Committee Shoots Down Bill to Permit Out-of-State Health Care Coverage

AUGUSTA – The Legislature’s Insurance and Financial Services Committee voted 8-4 today against LD 290, which would allow Maine residents to buy health insurance from out-of-state insurance carriers. The vote followed party lines, with all Democrats voting to kill the bill and all Republicans voting in favor of the measure, sponsored by State Rep. Jon McKane (R-Newcastle).

“I find it extremely disappointing that the majority party voted to keep the status quo intact,” said Rep. McKane, who spoke briefly at the committee’s work session prior to the vote. “The situation we have is deplorable – a virtual monopoly with some of the highest insurance rates in the nation for individual coverage.”

Rep. McKane told the committee that he has been inundated by e-mail messages and phone calls from people all over the state, who thanked him for submitting the legislation. “This is obviously something that people want,” he said. “The editorial board of the Lewiston Sun Journal came out in support of this bill. People are demanding health insurance at reasonable rates, but the Democrats hang on grimly to a failed system.”

Rep. McKane said the bill would reintroduce insurance competition in Maine and save consumers and businesses significant amounts of money. “Maine’s insurance rates are the second-highest in the country and have become a crushing burden for our citizens,” he said. “There is no reason the people of Maine should be held hostage to a dysfunctional system, but they’ve been trapped by a bizarre mentality that prefers the status quo over a rational reform that would allow our citizens freedom of choice.”

The committee’s 8-4 vote for “ought not to pass” does not mean the bill is dead. It will emerge in the full House and Senate as a divided report, and Republicans are likely to debate it on the floor and ask for a roll call vote. According to Insurance Committee member Rep. Les Fossel (R-Alna), the minority report will remove small groups from the bill but still permit individuals to purchase insurance out of state.

“Maine’s individual insurance market is in a death spiral,” Rep. Fossel said. “The only people who can afford Anthem Blue Cross insurance are the rich. The people who are really getting hurt are the entrepreneurs, the one or two people who are trying to start a company. They are the future of the Maine economy, and we’re driving them out because they can’t afford insurance here anymore.”

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