[HCCN] Maine healthcare travesty passes, need veto signature gatherers

[Dick Atlee]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	LePage is grinning
Date: 	Tue, 17 May 2011 11:27:42 -0400
From: 	Jesse Graham - Maine People's Alliance

Despite all your work Republican leaders succeeded in rushing this
handout to the insurance companies through the legislature without a
public hearing. It will drive up premiums for middle aged and older
Mainers, small business owners and people who live in rural areas all
over Maine.

There's only one way to stop it now, and that's at the ballot box.

We're considering launching a People's Veto campaign to stop this law
from coming into effect, but first we need to know where you stand.

Click here to tell us you're willing to gather 25 signatures to put a
Veto on the ballot.

              http://www.healthcareformaine.com/

The reaction to this stripping away of health care regulations, which
was written by the insurance companies and passed in an undemocratic
process, has been fast and strong.

In just days, 6,000 of you signed a petition against the bill. With less
than a 24 hours notice, 80 of you made it to Augusta to protest the vote
in the House. Last Wednesday, hundreds more flooded the Capitol to
oppose the bill as it headed to the Senate. Dozens of you made donations
to help fund these efforts.

While many members of the governor's party admitted that they hadn't
even read the bill when they voted on it, some have recognized how
terrible the content and process of this legislation has been.

On Friday, Republican Pat Flood, chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee, attempted to resign his chairmanship after Republican
leaders forced through LD 1333. He called the process partisan, rigid
and destructive.

Even more troubling, yesterday it was announced that Maine Insurance
Commissioner Mila Kofman is quitting her job. She apparently just
couldn't work in an administration that was stripping away regulations
on big insurance.

Kofman was Maine's last line of defense against insurance companies
jacking up premiums. She had even gone to court to beat back Anthem's
many attempts to unfairly raise rates on Maine families. With her gone,
LePage will likely appoint a more Anthem-friendly commissioner.

A People's Veto of this bill will not be easy. I'm not going to
sugarcoat it. Anthem will pour money into a campaign to make sure they
can continue to make record profit.

If we're going to do this, we'll need you're support. If you think it's
worth it to stand up for affordable health coverage for everyone in
Maine, pledge to collect 25 signatures [see above]

Thank you and stay tuned,

Jesse Graham
Maine People's Alliance Executive Director
jesse at mainepeoplesalliance.org
565 Congress Street, Suite 200 | Portland, ME 04101 US