Maine AllCare back in Unity at the Common Ground Fair

Phil Caper MD and Lynn Cheney are two of the many Maine AllCare volunteers who staffed our booth at the 2016 Common Ground Fair. They handed out fact sheets about the business advantages of universal, publicly funded healthcare, signed up new subscribers to our e-newsletter, and visitors shared personal health care stories that invariably focused on the unrelentingly high costs of health insurance and prescription drugs.

If you have a health related story to share that may help others, please write to us at info@maineallcare.org.

 

Statewide Field Organizing Wanted!

Help us to build a statewide movement for healthcare for ALL Mainers

Maine AllCare is looking for an engaging and organized individual who is passionate about universal healthcare and is excited to help us grow the movement for universal coverage here in Maine. Maine AllCare is seeking a consultant for a six-month project to develop and lead the start-up phase of a grassroots organizing and fundraising strategy across the State. The ideal candidate has a track record of working independently, will have little or no direction from Maine AllCare, and will be in charge of all aspects of the start-up phase of the operation. For more information about the position and the application process, please review the request for proposal HERE, and send this email on to any prospective candidates.

Proposals may be submitted to Hiring@VisionandStrategy.com

 

Our new bumper stickers are here and ready to be mailed to you!

Please show your support for universal health care by making an online contribution of $4 or more and we’ll mail to you one of these bright, colorful 10x3 inch bumper stickers. HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE IN MAINE is a clear message to your community. It affirms that you support a transition to a publicly funded system of comprehensive care accessible to every person in our state – one that will improve both individual health and business productivity, and will costs less overall than what we are paying today.

We welcome contributions in any amount – they are tax deductible – but our main goal is to increase visible support in each community throughout our state.

 

'Maine' reasons for universal health care

Please click on our Facebook

 

What Can Maine Doctors Do?

Return medicine to its healing roots — help educate and advocate for universal, single-payer health care that covers every Maine resident

• Join Maine AllCare mailing list, and volunteer to help, including supporting financially
• Join PNHP — www.pnhp.org
• Visit our websites regularly — www.maineallcare.org & www.philcaper.net for more information
• Organize and make your voices heard through the Maine Medical Association
  • Doctors have lost influence during the past 30 years or so, but we are far from powerless – they don’t have much of a business without us!
  • Doctors are still influential – make your views known
• Write op-eds and letters to the Editor of your local paper
• Testify in person and in writing before the relevant legislative committees when legislation affecting health care is being considered. MAC can help organize these efforts
• Organize speaking events directed at professions and lay audiences for Maine AllCare speakers
  • Grand rounds
  • Local and specialty medical societies
  • Community forums, church groups, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Chambers of Commerce

If you have ideas about how else we might advance the cause of universal health care here in Maine, please write to us at info@maineallcare.org and and put "Idea" in the Subject line. Thank you.

Editor's Note: Access to affordable health care continues to plague us as a nation. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tina Rosenberg writes in the NYTimes about the return of house calls which benefits patients and their families, and even saves money, but many cannot afford it – until we change the system.

Please share your thoughts with us about this old idea making full circle.

Reviving House Calls by Doctors

By Tina Rosenberg
September 27, 2016 in The New York Times

Surah Grumet used to be a family doctor at a clinic in the Bronx. “It always felt like I was trying to catch up,” she said. “I was always falling behind, and it was so stressful. And it was really hard to bring up my two girls, to be there for them, and still be able to practice medicine the way that I wanted to.”

Now, she lives in a suburb of Raleigh, N.C. She still practices medicine, but has no office or clinic. Instead, she works with a Durham-based practice called Doctors Making House Calls. (read more)

 

FIX IT – Healthcare at the Tipping Point a must see documentary for all Americans

This documentary takes an in-depth look into how our dysfunctional health care system is damaging our economy, suffocating our businesses, discouraging physicians and negatively impacting on the nation's health, while remaining un-affordable for a third of our citizens. Produced by Richard Master, owner and CEO of MCS Industries, an Easton PA company.

My company now has to pay $1.5 million a year to provide access to health care for our workers and their dependents. When I investigated where all that money goes, I was shocked. I found that the first three cents of every premium dollar goes to the insurance agent who helps MCS select an insurance plan and negotiate rates with our insurer. The next 20 cents goes to the insurance company to help pay for its sales and marketing and other administrative functions, which includes the work of a huge staff that does nothing more than approve or deny care. Another 10 cents (at least) goes to cover what it costs doctors and hospitals to handle the massive amount of paper work and phone time made necessary by my insurance company’s pre-­approval demands, denials and other payment issues. That’s 33 cents of every premium dollar, 33 cents that has nothing to do with the delivery of health care.

Excerpt from a introductory letter by Richard Master

For arranging a FREE screening of this one hour documentary please email us.