Health Care Options for Maine Residents

Experts feel the 127,000 Maine residents without health cover have no cause to panic as there will be options in the Federal health care overhaul.

50% of the residents are covered by the employer provided health covers, 42% have individual health policies or come under the Medicaid or Medicare programs.

What is Medicare / Medicaid? - Eligibility - Payment - Reference
Medicaid / Medicare are different governmental programs that provide medical and health-related services to specific groups of people in U.S. and managed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

According to nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation estimates, 10% of Main’s population is uninsured and will be under the individual mandate covers.

The Federal government has two options to cover people who come under the individual mandate, either through an expanded Medicaid cover or subsidized private insurance.

Expansion of Medicaid coverage is still moot in Maine as the Legislature will first set its spending priorities for the next couple of years.Gov. Paul LePage is against the idea, though Democratic leaders feel expansion of Medicaid is a priority for people who 133% of the federal poverty level. They don’t get any insurance cover but are not liable for penalties.

Study: Medicare Patients Who Use Hospice Receive Better Care at a Lower Cost to the Government
In comparison to those who did not use the Medicare hospice benefit, Medicare patients who enrolled in hospice received better care at a significantly lower cost to the government.

Mitchell Stein, of Consumers for Affordable Health Care, which advocates quality insurance for everyone, felt many of these citizens would not be eligible for subsidies and most likely would not have Health insurance.

According to federal law people with incomes 100 – 400% of the federal poverty level was eligible for subsidies based on their income. They would need to spend between 2 – 91/2% of their income on health cover.

Cost-Effectiveness of Medicare Drug Plans in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Examined
Generic drug coverage was cost-saving compared to no coverage in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and also improved health outcomes in Medicare Part D.

Those who don’t comply will have to pay penalty, though Stein feels not too many will come under that category.

References:

In Hospitals, Lower Proportion of Medicare Patients Dying: Research
A lower proportion died in an acute care hospital in recent years, found a study that included data on more than 800,000 Medicare beneficiaries who died between 2000 - 2009.

Hannah Punitha (IRDA Licence Number: 2710062)

Glenn Adams, March 2013

Source-Medindia