Midcoast Health Care Reform

STATE BALLOT QUESTION: Do you want the State of Maine to voice its strong support for the U.S. National Health Insurance Act, HR 676 (Enhanced Medicare For All), and respectfully call upon the Congress and President of The United States to enact HR676 during the current session of Congress?

IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD TWO THOUSAND AND NINE (2009), BY JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH (124th) LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MAINE NOW ASSEMBLED IN THE FIRST REGULAR SESSION,

BY JOINT RESOLUTION EXPRESSES ITS STRONG SUPPORT FOR THE U.S. NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT (HR 676), A NATIONAL UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER NOT-FOR-PROFIT HEALTH CARE PLAN ("ENHANCED MEDICARE FOR ALL"),

WHEREAS morally and constitutionally everyone deserves access to affordable quality health care; and

WHEREAS administrative costs and profits inherent in our current private insurance based system consumes 31% of healthcare spending, nearly twice that spent by national healthcare systems; and

WHEREAS the cost for HR676 for the vast majority of employers and employees would ONLY be 5% of income; and

WHEREAS medical bills contribute to one-half of all personal bankruptcies, the majority of which were people HAVING insurance when illness struck; and

WHEREAS proposed mandatory private for-profit health insurance plans will only be affordable for most people with high deductibles and minimal coverage, discouraging preventive care and saddling many families with huge medical bills; and

WHEREAS over the last 35 years managed care (HMO's) and private for-profit health reforms have failed to contain health care costs, which now threaten the international competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers; and

WHEREAS Harvard researchers estimated that more than $300 billion per year could be recovered by replacing private insurance companies with a single public payer, enough to cover the uninsured and to improve coverage for all those who now have only partial coverage; and

WHEREAS The US National Health Insurance Act would assure universal coverage for all medically necessary services, contain costs by slashing bureaucracy, protect the doctor patient relationship, assure patients a completely free choice of doctors and hospitals, and allow independent private physicians to make decisions about needed care rather than profit-oriented corporations; NOW THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED the members of the one hundred and twenty-fourth legislature of the State of Maine respectfully call upon THE CONGRESS and PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to enact HR676 during the current session of Congress.