Senate enacts Sen. Brenner bill to provide Mainers free assistance with health insurance

AUGUSTA – On Wednesday, the Maine Senate enacted a bill from Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough. LD 631, “An Act To Provide Funding for Maine’s Health Insurance Consumer Assistance Program,” would allocate $400,000 over two years to maintain Maine’s health insurance consumer assistance program.

“You don’t need to work in the health care field to know that our health insurance system in this country can be extremely complicated,” said Sen. Brenner, who is a nurse-midwife. “Ensuring that Mainers have a reliable, trustworthy place to turn for free assistance when they have questions or run into an issue is absolutely critical. I thank my colleagues in the Senate for their support so we can continue to guarantee access to this valuable resource.”

Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care is Maine’s consumer assistance program. They operate a free 1-800 consumer assistance helpline five days a week, put on educational workshops and programming, and provide free assistance to Mainers who have questions or issues related to health insurance. During 2020 alone, Maine CAHC received more than 8,000 calls from residents seeking assistance. The helpline number is 1-800-965-7476 and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

LD 631 would provide $400,000 in funding over two years to the Department of the Attorney General in order to contract with a health insurance consumer assistance program for the next two fiscal years.

The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills, who has 10 days to sign the bill into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without her signature.

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