Health Care Insurance in Maine (Augusta, Mexico: car insurance, buy, salary)

[frogcreekwoods]

since this is basically what I do for a living---

You want to look at age-adjusted cancer rates to get the best idea of what is going on. Here is one graph

age-adjusted rates in Maine


There is a web site http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/micromaps/ that lets you put in all sorts of different variables and see the results. They aren't age-adjusted but you can get the under 50 or over 50 rates, depending on what you're interested in.

Yes, Maine is higher than the rest of the US as a whole, but so is much of CT, MA, NH, and RI.

You have to move to Hawaii for the really low cancer rates, but who would want to live there?

[Jebbie]

Regarding cancer, it appears that there is regional effect occuring: 4 of the top ranked cancer states in the U.S. are in New England/northeast (New Jersey), and across the border in Canada, the highest rated provinces are in the Maritimes: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick.

Also, in Maine, Penobscot County is the highest ranked cancer county. Penobscot County is the cancer-riskiest county in America! Washington County is next.

[reloop]

Maybe the rate of cancer in Maine (in addition to financial causitive factors) has something to do with the lack of insurance carriers?

[Jebbie]

Originally Posted by reloop

Maybe the rate of cancer in Maine (in addition to financial causitive factors) has something to do with the lack of insurance carriers?

Lack of insurance carriers probably doesn't help. Maine, unfortunately, is a sick state, in a number of different ways.

[tcrackly]

I would guess that some of the high cancer figures in the Northeast have to do with the prevailing winds of pollution carrying toxins that also are responsible for the acid rain here.

[Jebbie]

Yes, probably so + radon + arsenic + smoking + obesity + etc.

So, what do we do about it?

[reloop]

Originally Posted by Jebbie

Yes, probably so + radon + arsenic + smoking + obesity + etc.

So, what do we do about it?

Well, the way I see it, we can either obsess about it to the point of insanity, pass fruitless and endless regulations that are tantamount to "Nannyism," or we can do the best we can to control what factors we can and simply enjoy the time we have left on the planet.

Personally, I'm partial to having fun while I can still function.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by reloop

Maybe the rate of cancer in Maine (in addition to financial causitive factors) has something to do with the lack of insurance carriers?

Absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the lack of insurance carriers.

The one and only cause for so little choice for Mainers is the state's mandate of guaranteed issue. This means that regardless of what kind of malady a person suffers from, that person will pay not one penny more than a perfectly healthy person of the same age. If insurance companies cannot apply rates appropriate to their risk of loss, they will refuse to issue coverage. It is the same for houses, commercial buildings, automobiles and anything else that can be covered against loss by insurance.

The end result is that the only insurance companies issuing coverage in Maine get to charge pretty much as much as they want for EVERYONE, and the healthy are descriminated against by rate.

Anthem Blue Cross just applied for a rate increase that was at one point 17%. The insurance department in a fit of effort to "protect" the Maine insurance buyer "only" approved an eleven percent increase. So the healthy will get to pay ten percent more next year and the chronically ill will once again pay for coverage that is unfairly subsidized for them.

[reloop]

[quote=Acadianlion;8936790]Absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the lack of insurance carriers.

The one and only cause for so little choice for Mainers is the state's mandate of guaranteed issue. This means that regardless of what kind of malady a person suffers from, that person will pay not one penny more than a perfectly healthy person of the same age. If insurance companies cannot apply rates appropriate to their risk of loss, they will refuse to issue coverage. It is the same for houses, commercial buildings, automobiles and anything else that can be covered against loss by insurance.quote]

That's interesting... Thanks for the info. I guess I was just considering "pre-existing conditions" as a reason for the law in the first place.

What a mess that can cause IMO. I suppose this is one reason why although our insurance company was charged only $380.00 for an ER visit, the insurance company paid out over $1350.00, and to add insult to injury we paid $250.00 that went to deductible. It's part of the "contract" and from my understanding, is part of the shuffle if-you-will of how claims are paid out.

[maine4.us]

Just a thought here. Lots of Mainers burn wood to heat 5-6 months a year. If the wood burning system is not a closed system (furnace type), carcinogens, hundreds are found in wood smoke, and vapor. As a small boy I grew up in a household that burned wood. The is always a "wood smoke" smell in a house that burns wood. It takes the spring and summer with the windows open to remove that odor....and then we begin again. I wonder if anyone has taken that in account. Lots of New Englanders burn wood in the winter, hence the higher rate??? I think if you looked at the list of Appalachian states that burn wood you might find figures that are similar to Maines.....just an idea here.