ANSWER: Sun Spots recently published information about the Fresh Air program. For more information, contact Katrina Cash-Staley at 207-583-7609 or visit www.freshair.org/.
DEAR SUN SPOTS: You have had readers write in and ask for help regarding health insurance as they find the forms to fill out and even where to go and ask questions daunting. I am a retired medical social worker so I have worked with hundreds of people with insurance issues related to medical care. The ACA has helped but people still struggle with getting their individual medical needs met.
I have recently become involved with a grass roots non-profit organization called Maine AllCare which is working for one insurer to cover everyone from birth to the grave. (Medicare for All) This is affordable and do-able. I am involved with the group from Rumford. If any readers are interested in joining us or learning more, please contact me at gburhoe@gmail.com or Joe Sirois at jnsirois@roadrunner.com. You my also contact Maine AllCare directly at P.O. Box 5015 Portland, Maine 04101 or email to info@maineallcare.org. Thank you Sun Spots for helping us to make people aware of this most important effort.
READERS: Sun Spots visited the Maine AllCare website and found this information from the organization:
Maine AllCare is dedicated to the goal of achieving universal, high quality and affordable health care for the people of Maine. We are non-partisan and non-profit, committed to educating the Maine public and policymakers, including legislators, about how to improve upon the new federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in order to make health care here in Maine universally accessible and affordable for all.
Our vision for the future of health care in Maine:
All Mainers should have access to affordable and appropriate health care and its supporting social and community services — everybody in, nobody out.
No Mainer is in danger of financial ruin because of health care costs, is locked into a job solely because it provides health insurance, is faced with stagnant or declining wages due to the rising costs of health care, or has their insurance cancelled when they become sick.
No Maine employer is faced with out of control health care costs, putting them at a competitive disadvantage relative to their domestic and international competitors.
Maine doctors will no longer have their clinical judgment second-guessed by insurance company bureaucrats. Medical practice will be decided by health care givers and patients, and will return to being driven by mission, not money.
Maine patients will no longer have to wonder whether their doctor’s treatment decisions are driven by their health needs or their insurance coverage.
Maine hospital leaders will be free to offer services determined by the needs of their community, not their need or desire to generate revenue.
The legislature will no longer have to watch rising Maincare and public employee health care costs steadily erode its ability to address other critical priorities.
Use the QR code to go to Sun Spots online for additional information and links. This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can be emailed to sunspots@sunjournal.com, tweeted @SJ_SunSpots or posted on the Sun Spots facebook page at facebook.com/SunJournalSunSpots. This column can also be read online at sunjournal.com/sunspots. We’ve joined Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/sj_sunspots.
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