If you’re a 60-year-old in Maine, you’ll pay higher health insurance premiums on the marketplace if the U.S. Senate’s plan to replace Obamacare passes, no matter where in the state you live or how much you make. But you’re in for an eye-popping $15,900 increase in annual premiums if you earn $50,000 at that age and […]
Maine spends more on health care per person than most other states, according to a new federal study that shows wide variation across the country. Maine spent $9,531 on health care per capita in 2014, the 11th-highest amount in the nation. That figure reflects a wide range of health costs, funded by both public and […]
Many women who rely on the birth control pill or other monthly forms of contraception have experienced this scenario: A woman’s doctor writes her a prescription for three or 12 months worth of birth control. When she visits the pharmacy to pick it up, she finds out that her insurance company will pay for only one […]
Truly hot days are relatively rare in Maine, thanks to those cool ocean breezes and our situation as the northeastern-most state. It’s easy to forget when we’re whining about the 90-degree heat and yearning for the snowfall that we cursed only a few short months ago. But when the temperature spikes, we suffer more than our neighbors […]
Health insurers in Maine are again aiming to increase rates for Obamacare plans, with one company seeking an unprecedented 40 percent hike on average in 2018. Insurers had until Friday to file their proposed rates for next year. The higher monthly premiums, if approved by insurance regulators, would affect about 80,000 Maine residents who buy coverage under […]
The Trump administration recently released a report showing that health insurance premiums in Maine have jumped 55 percent under Obamacare. Nationally, monthly premiums have doubled for Americans in the Obamacare market since the health reform law took effect, it found. The timing was notable. The report came out just before the Congressional Budget Office released its eagerly […]
Much of the fevered debate about House Republicans’ plan to replace the Affordable Care Act is coalescing around its implications for people with pre-existing conditions. The term is insurance company jargon but it’s quickly becoming part of the popular lexicon. So what exactly does it mean, and how many people in Maine have one? A […]
Gov. Paul LePage repeated his claims this week that Maine’s high taxes are driving successful people out of the state. The press event was a whistle stop in his ongoing campaign against Question 2, a 3 percent surtax on income over $200,000 that voters approved in November as a way to award more state aid to […]
When a Maine woman died suddenly in 2013 after a tick bite, the state went on alert against the dangerous virus that claimed her life. Marilyn Ruth Snow, a Rockland-area artist, fell ill almost immediately after finding a tick stubbornly embedded in her shoulder that November. She died just weeks later. At the time, Powassan virus […]
Now that mid-April is upon us, I feel obligated to fulfill my duty as a health reporter and rain on everyone’s Easter parade with dire warnings about disease lurking in unexpected places. I’ve written before about the risks of contracting salmonella from baby chicks, but Easter is a time of resurrection, so here I go again. Many […]
