<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">Lizzy Reinholt <<a href="mailto:info@mainecandobetter.org">info@mainecandobetter.org</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;">May 13, 2011 3:59:26 PM EDT<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><b>ACTION ALERT: Health Care Under Attack</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1);"><b>Reply-To: </b></span><span style="font-family:'Helvetica'; font-size:medium;"><a href="mailto:info@mainecandobetter.org">info@mainecandobetter.org</a><br></span></div><br><div>
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<td style="padding: 15px;"><p><span style="font-size: larger;">Dexter, </span></p><p><span style="font-size: larger;">Maine Can Do Better’s Citizen Lobby Day was a huge success! Hundreds of Mainers packed the State House in opposition to our newly elected leaders misguided priorities.<br>
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Thank you to all who were able to attend!<br>
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</span><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FzFPdYW%2BwpcsWFGlyR1%2BRNphuQUFbMjp"><b><span style="font-size: larger;">Click here</span></b></a><b><span style="font-size: larger;"> to watch WABI-TV’s coverage of the event. </span></b><span style="font-size: larger;"><br>
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Despite lobby day and the thousands of emails, calls, and letters that have been sent to the Governor and members of our legislature in the past couple of months, we still have a lot of work to do.<br>
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In recent weeks, Governor Paul Lepage and the GOP majority in the Maine House and Senate have launched an attack on health care in Maine. <b>In the Governor’s most recent budget proposal, he takes health insurance away from 30,000 low-income people at the same time that he proposes $200 million dollars in tax cuts that favor Maine’s wealthiest. </b><br>
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And, in the legislature, <b>Republican leaders are pushing roll-backs in health insurance consumer protections, LD 1333, that would dramatically increase insurance rates for middle aged and older people as well as rural Mainers.</b><br>
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LD 1333 has passed in the House and will be considered for final passage in the Senate on Monday, only one troubling step away from Governor LePage’s signature.<br>
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<b>Please call your Senator today!</b><br>
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LD 1333 goes too far in its assault on Maine's health care consumer protections.<br>
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If LD 1333 passes:<br>
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<li><span style="font-size: larger;">Health insurance rates will increase for older Mainers and residents and businesses in rural communities. According to the Maine Center for Economic Policy, <b>under the proposed amendments to LD 1333 private insurance rates for people 55 and older who live in Downeast Maine (Washington and Hancock counties) could increase by 44% when fully implemented.</b> Arguments that they will do otherwise hinge on bold assumptions and unsubstantiated claims about how the many provisions of this bill will work.<br>
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<li><span style="font-size: larger;">Insurers will have more control at the expense of rural Mainers. Under the amendments to LD 1333 passed by the Maine House on Thursday, insurance companies can still push rural Mainers to travel longer distances for care. Rather than give rural consumers more choices, LD 1333 puts more power and profits in the hands of health Insurance companies. </span></li>
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Contact your state Senator TODAY! </span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: larger;">Call the Senate message line at 1-800-423-6900 or 207-287-1540 </span><span style="font-size: larger;">to voice your concerns about proposed changes to Maine's health insurance protections and to let them know that LD 1333 as amended continues to fall short in protecting the interests of Maine people, especially those who are older and live in rural areas. Insist on further analysis by the Bureau of Insurance and remind your Senator that their best work is done through dialogue and compromise in full view of all the facts. <br>
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<li><span style="font-size: larger;"> </span><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wkT0J2MdxW4wKfC6VK88pdphuQUFbMjp"><span style="font-size: larger;">Click here</span></a><span style="font-size: larger;"> to find the name of your Senator<br>
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<li><span style="font-size: larger;">Call 1-800-423-6900 or 207-287-1540 to call the Senate message line at the State House</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: larger;">To learn more about LD 1333 </span><a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=q7eFb5eaC%2Fdq4J6zv5M4atphuQUFbMjp"><span style="font-size: larger;">click here</span></a><span style="font-size: larger;"> to download the Maine Center for Economic Policy’s fact sheet on the bill’s impact. <br>
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Thank you,<br>
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Lizzy R. Reinholt<br>
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Engage Maine<br>
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