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 […]
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 […]
Of all the sexually transmitted infections, syphilis typically falls pretty low on the list of concern. HIV/AIDS, HPV, and drug-resistant gonorrhea grab more headlines than an infection most of us consider a relic of history. You don’t often hear sex ed teachers warning students about a disease believed to have stricken the likes of Vincent Van […]
Summer may still feel a long way away, but Maine lawmakers are again gearing up to decide whether teens should be tanning. On Monday, the Legislature will hold a public hearing on a bill that would outlaw the use of tanning beds and other tanning devices by anyone under the age of 18. A similar bill passed […]
Much of today’s debate over expanding Medicaid, nearly seven years after Obamacare was ushered into law, consists of well-worn talking points. But two economists in Kansas have added a fresh twist, as Republicans attempt to roll back the law. The researchers found that in states that expanded Medicaid, divorce rates fell among Baby Boomers. What does Medicaid […]
Dr. Cathleen London runs a family practice in Washington County, where nearly 20 percent of residents lack health insurance, the highest uninsured rate in the state. So when the price for a life-saving allergy medication skyrocketed last summer, she knew there was no way her patients who rely on the drug could afford it. The […]
