LEWISTON — The head of the Maine Bureau of Insurance has denied the 2018 rate increase requests made by the three health insurers who sell individual plans in Maine under the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. However, he said he would approve slightly lower rate increases that average between 17.5 percent and 27.1 percent. Superintendent Eric […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Kaiser study says 2018 health premium hikes the result of Trump's actions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration’s own actions are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many consumers, a nonpartisan study has found. The analysis released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that mixed signals from President Donald Trump have created uncertainty “far outside the norm,” leading insurers to seek […]
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Judge dismisses Community Health Option’s $23 million lawsuit against feds
UPDATED 1:30 p.m.: LEWISTON — A federal court has ruled against Lewiston-based Community Health Options in its $23 million lawsuit against the federal government. But the head of Community Health Options called the decision “a temporary setback.” “We remain very confident in the merits of our case,” said CEO Kevin Lewis. Community Health Options, a nonprofit and the […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
LePage calls health care votes by Susan Collins and Angus King 'disgusting
Gov. Paul LePage blasted Maine’s two U.S. senators Tuesday for their recent votes against a health care overhaul package backed by Senate Republicans. LePage, who previously said he also opposed the Senate Republican bill that was defeated last week, said during a Tuesday radio interview on WVOM that independent Sen. Angus King and Republican Sen. Susan Collins […]
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Maine's Susan Collins helps block last GOP health care plan in Senate
Through one of Capitol Hill’s strangest weeks, two Republican senators hailing from the northernmost states on the east and west coasts consistently voted against every variation of health care reform offered by a GOP majority desperate to repeal, and perhaps replace, the Affordable Care Act. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of […]
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Bruce Poliquin opposes Obamacare repeal unless there's an alternative ready
Bruce Poliquin President Donald Trump’s call to repeal the Affordable Care Act and then work to find a replacement for it failed to sway anyone in Maine’s legislative delegation. U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a 2nd District Republican, said Tuesday that “in light of what we have seen over the last several months, once again, I […]
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Donald Trump pushes GOP senators to restart Obamacare repeal-and-replace effort
WASHINGTON — Hoping to avoid a humiliating political defeat, President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded that Republican senators resume their efforts to approve a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, insisting that lawmakers are “very close.” A day after the GOP strategy to rollback the ACA appeared dead, Trump invited Republican senators […]
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Susan Collins says no to Obamacare repeal
With the apparent demise of the Senate Republican’s health-care bill, President Donald Trump and others have called for repealing the Affordable Care Act without having a successor program in hand. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Tuesday she’s opposed to repeal alone. “I do not think that it’s constructive to repeal a law […]
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Mitch McConnell gets ready to repeal Obamacare as Donald Trump lashes out
Republicans in Congress were reeling Tuesday from the failure of their latest health bill as President Donald Trump said he’s willing to let Obamacare fail and called on the Senate to change one of its central rules. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the chamber will vote on a straight repeal — with a two-year […]
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Two more senators drop support, health care bill collapses
WASHINGTON (AP) — The implosion of the Senate Republican health care bill leaves a divided GOP with its flagship legislative priority in tatters and confronts a wounded President Donald Trump and congressional leaders with dicey decisions about addressing their perhaps unattainable seven-year-old promise of repealing President Barack Obama’s law. Two GOP senators — Utah’s Mike […]