LEWISTON — Candidates hoping to win a seat or re-election to the Maine Legislature later this year made one of their first public forum appearances during a Maine People’s Alliance forum at the Lewiston Public Library on Thursday. The two-hour event was dominated by Democratic incumbents, but at least one Republican and one independent candidate […]
health care
Posted inLocal & State
ACA proponent: Ruling ‘nothing to panic about’
News Update: ACA to continue subsidies as courts contradict each other Despite a pair of dueling court rulings Tuesday — one that said people cannot use government tax breaks to buy health insurance through federally run Affordable Care Act marketplaces and one that said they can — proponents of the health care reform law said […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
ACA to continue subsidies as courts contradict each other
What this means for Maine: ACA proponents say ruling shouldn’t be reason to panic A divided court panel in Washington called into question the subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people pay their premiums, saying financial aid can be paid only in states that have set up their own insurance markets, or exchanges. About […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
More money, less money: the effects of not expanding MaineCare
The head of the Portland Community Health Center and her chief financial officer sat down last week to figure out which bills they could pay. They don’t have the money to pay all of them. More than half of their patients are uninsured, up from about 30 percent a few years ago. The health center […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine physicians topped nation for writing opioid prescriptions
Learn About Tableau Health care providers in Maine wrote prescriptions for a commonly abused type of painkiller at the highest rate in the nation in 2012, according to a new federal report that found wide variations in prescribing patterns across the U.S. State officials noted that since then, the number of Mainers in treatment for […]
Posted inBusiness, Lewiston-Auburn
Central Maine Healthcare seeks capital investor
Source: Maine Health Data Organization * FY2013 figures are preliminary LEWISTON — Last year, Central Maine Healthcare sent out inquiries to five health care organizations asking whether any would consider taking CMHC on as a member, drawing CMHC and its affiliated hospitals and physicians’ offices under their respective umbrellas. None accepted the overture, including neighboring […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
St. Mary’s, MMC face penalities for infections, complications
LEWISTON — Half a dozen Maine hospitals may be penalized by the federal government for their high rates of complications and infections. The two most likely to face penalties, according to a report by Kaiser Health News, are St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston and Maine Medical Center in Portland. On a scale of […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Mainers pay $99 per month for health exchange insurance
AUGUSTA — Mainers who signed up for health care coverage on the federally-run exchange are paying an average of $99 per month in premiums. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services figures released Wednesday show that 89 percent of Mainers who signed up on the exchange selected plans that the federal government helps pay […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Once again, US has most expensive, least effective health care system in survey
WASHINGTON — A report released Monday by a respected think tank ranks the United States dead last in the quality of its health-care system when compared with 10 other western, industrialized nations, the same spot it occupied in four previous studies by the same organization. Not only did the U.S. fail to move up between […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Michaud says VA health care in Maine is ‘something to be proud of’ in speech at American Legion convention
BANGOR — U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said the health care veterans receive here is “something to be proud of,” as a scandal over long wait times for doctors’ appointments and hidden waitlists engulfs VA facilities across the country. “You need to look no further than right here in Maine to see […]