Maine Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Maine?

Maine climbed one spot to 9th in the 2012 edition of America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• This year's findings indicate that overall health in Maine is likely to improve in coming years.
• Most people in Maine have health insurance.

The bad news:

• Funding for public health decreased slightly in the past year.
• The number of children in poverty has increased by nearly 6 percentage points in the past 10 years.

Maine's best and worst category rankings:

• Violent Crime – 1st
• Low Birth Weight – 3rd
• Lack of Health Insurance – 5th
• Poor Mental Health Days – 34th
• Poor Physical Health Days – 38th
• Cancer Deaths – 40th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Maine.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Maine health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Maine here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Maine, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does Maine have a health insurance high risk pool?

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Maine started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Maine's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for Maine

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in Maine.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Maine can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for Maine health insurance plan report cards.

Maine state government health insurance resources

Maine DHA —  The Maine Legislature created DHA in 2003 as “an independent executive agency to arrange for the provision of comprehensive, affordable health care coverage to eligible small employers, including the self-employed, their employees and dependents, and individuals on a voluntary basis.

Maine’s Consumer Guide to Individual Health Insurance —  Guaranteed-issue individual health insurance is available in Maine from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, MEGA Life & Health Insurance Company, and several health maintenance organizations (HMOs). This guide attempts to help you compare and contrast the options.

Department of Health and Human Services —  Page of links to health insurance resources, provided by the state of Maine.

How did Maine officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Our
Pick

No (2)

• Michael Michaud

• Chellie Pingree