SENATOR JACKSON: I WOULDN’T BE ALIVE WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE

Posted: April 11, 2013 | Senator Jackson

Calls for health reforms in legislative testimony

AUGUSTA – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) urged Maine lawmakers to adopt reforms aimed at improving access to and the quality of health care. Jackson sponsored L.D. 1162 and appeared before the Insurance and Financial Services Committee in support of his bill.

During his testimony he said, “If I didn’t have health insurance as a result of being a state legislator, I might not be here today. I know too many people who died because they couldn’t access the health care they needed.”

In his testimony, Senator Jackson, who also works as a logger, discussed the tragic death of Ryan Kelly – a logger he worked with in Allagash who died of a massive heart attack as a result of not having health insurance. With health insurance, he likely would have been able to prevent his heart attack through preventative care and medical checkups.

Senator Jackson also discussed his own health care challenges. When he was a State Representative, he checked himself into the emergency room in Augusta after experiencing chest pains for several days. This saved his life, as an emergency pacemaker was able to be installed in time. The only reason he had health insurance was because he “had been fortunate enough to be elected to the Legislature.”

“These issues are more than just technical policy questions or political points to debate,” said Senator Jackson. “For too many working men and women, they are a matter of life or death.”

The Insurance and Financial Services Committee is considering several pieces of legislation aimed at improving health care in Maine. Jackson urged them to consider the following:

  • Transparency in hospital costs and accountability in hospital care
  • Creating a health care exchange to lower insurance costs as outlined in the federal Affordable Care Act
  • Accepting federal dollars to expand health coverage for low-income Mainers
  • Repealing provisions passed in 2011 that caused insurance rates for rural Mainers to increase by upwards of 30 percent

The Insurance and Financial Services Committee will examine these proposals in the weeks ahead.

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