Midcoast Health Care Reform

Midcoast Health Care Reform is a recently established coalition of Midcoast Maine citizens concerned about the rising costs for health care and the need to provide health care for everyone in the United States. Its mission is to inform citizens of the overwhelming benefits of a national single-payer, not-for-profit universal health care plan and to promote its enactment. The single payer plan is a publicly financed but privately delivered health care system - doctors and hospitals would remain private, as they are today.

Organizer Jerry Call, as a self-employed contractor with no employer-provided health insurance, was "inspired" by his health care experiences over the last few years to explore alternatives to the current systems. "I want to stress that this is a totally non-partisan effort, as the rising cost of health care and lack of coverage for many people are issues that affect everyone, whatever their political affiliation. Additionally, many Maine residents face the additional challenges of limited availability and access. It is obvious that the health care system is broken - the need for change is in the air. MCHCR's aim is to support a coordinated effort to bring about the necessary change to a national single-payer system, which we feel from our research is the only viable solution to the current health care crisis. So while our long-term goal is national, we realize that realistically we need to start locally at the grassroots level.

The group would like to hear about the experiences and problems people have had negotiating the current health care system, whether they are uninsured, privately insured, insured through their employers or unions, or covered by Medicare, Medicaid or Dirigo - what works, what doesn't work, the level of coverage available, what limitations are faced, what the costs are. Equally valuable would be first-hand reports of experiences people have had with health care systems in other countries such as Canada, Britain, France and Japan, as well as input from doctors, nurses and other health care professionals."

A core group has been meeting weekly in South Thomaston to get this local effort started. The members have developed a website with links to other groups and information, and are also organizing events and designing bumper stickers, posters and other publicity materials. The first major event planned is a free screening of Michael Moore's Academy Award nominated documentary "Sicko," which is scheduled for April 6 at the Rockland Library. More ambitious future plans include local demonstrations and larger scale marches coordinated with other areas of the state and country. For more information contact us. We want to hear from you.