Rainy weather has been as much a fixture at Portland’s Old Port Festival as the lobster rolls in recent years, so we felt especially blessed when we got both a gorgeous day and a sea of Portlanders ready to talk health care on Sunday.

Parked among the cobblestone streets and old brick buildings of Portland, Maine, our big blue RV with the awning rolled out drew curious crowds. Some were long-time subscribers to Consumer Reports – “I’ve been a subscriber since before you were born,” said one – but many just wandered by to see what we were up to. Twenty-two of them let us video their health care stories.

We should note upfront that the people of Maine are better off than most Americans when it comes to health care. More than 90% of Mainers have health insurance coverage, well above the national average of 84%. Maine spends more than three times the national average on community and home-based health care, which helps keep people out of nursing homes.

The health care picture is even better in the Portland area, where 92% of residents have health insurance coverage. Not surprisingly, more than 88% of the folks in the Portland area rate their health as good or excellent.

But neither Portland nor Maine are immune from the serious health care problems now plaguing the nation.

Maine’s health care bill keeps going up, registering an astonishing 8% average annual increase in recent years. Maine is among a handful of states where per person health care spending is more than 20 percent above the national average, yet 10% of Maine’s residents remain uninsured and without help in a state with some of the highest health care costs in the country.

Click here to read our complete fact sheet on health care in Maine.

The stories we heard in Portland ran the gamut – preexisting conditions, shockingly high drug costs, fights with insurance companies for reimbursement. But some of the most outraged voices we heard were from health care workers themselves, the folks whose jobs are to get people the health care they need. They told us how they are continually shackled by cutbacks on state programs or finding the right ‘codes’ so insurance companies will approve treatment.

Next up: Portsmouth, NH, where will be on Tuesday, then we head inland to Vermont and upstate New York.

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comments (8)

Comments

1 Posted by Karen at 06/03/08 02:16 AM

I have excellant health care. Probably because I work for DHMC in Lebanon, NH and they provide us with affordable healthcare. They pay a majority portion of the cost of our policies.

We are lucky. I recall when I was once unemployed. I attempted to purchase private policies and absolutely could not afford it. So, I was without healthcare. My daughter was qualified for Medicare - but as for myself - absolutely nothing.

I feel that the insurance companies have all of us over a barrel. You would not believe the horror stories that I have heard.

I was injured in the work place (my reason for being unemployed at the time) This was in 2006. For nearly two years I had no insurance. The insurance company with my past employer (Workman's Comp) still to this day, is denying my claim. They deny them so that the worker has to hire an attorney. We are still in litigation. Prior to hiring an attorney - I was harrassed and treated in a demeaning manner by Arcadia Insurance. My attorney is still fighting my claim to this day. The insurance company is deflamatory, rude and are trying everything they can do to make sure that I am never compensated for my injuries and for my medical bills amassed to recover from the injury.

2 Posted by Ann Quinn at 06/03/08 04:19 PM

Dear Cover America Tour:
I just wanted to add my two cents on health care costs and their devastating effects on a subject
which I feel Consumers Union has chosen to largely
ignore.
In 2007 with the pet food recalls, thousands of
companion animals died immediately as a result of the lack of food safety in this country to warn us all about the lack of regulation and inspection of safe American food products.
On May 14, 2008, in Maryland, there was an FDA
meeting on pet food safety at which there was no
Consumers Union representative who spoke, nor as far as I could determine was there a Consumers Union public comment submitted.
So let me tell the story in brief of the health care costs to my family of three cats. Within one
month in January and February of 2007, all three
of my cats were diagnosed with renal failure. My
first cat had to be euthanized in February 2007.
The pet food recalls were announced in March 2007.
Since then, my surviving two cats have been under
continuous veterinary treatment, the aggregate costs of which have been over $10,000. I can document that amount. There is presently no medical reason to euthanize these family members, whose medical conditon is still treatable.
The net result of these pet food recalls has been
devastating on my household. The media and Consumers Union seems to no longer speak of the biggest food safety recall in United States history.
So when you are touring the country for health care cost stories and their awful effects, I would
appreciate Consumer Union's recognition of the
single biggest cause of health care concerns, unsafe food supply for people and companion animals.
Thank you for considering my remarks,
Sincerely,
Ann

3 Posted by Carol-Lee at 06/04/08 05:14 AM

I am fortunate to be able to afford an excellent Medicare supplement. My only complaint is lack of coverage for my naturopath appointments and prescriptions.

My healthcare horrors have to do with other people that I have helped. I took two people home in recent years after they were released from the hospital following surgery. One for a triple hernia, the other for an ankle fusion.

With the first one, I had to wait an inordinate amount of time for the hospital pharmacy to fill his prescription. I heard my name weakly called from his direction and found he'd passed out sitting in the waiting room chair. I ran as fast as I'm capable back to the ward to get help. He was put back in bed and told what had happened is a common occurance after surgeries. My question then is, why was he released so soon? Had we not had to wait so long for the prescrption, we would have been on the road and had to return to the ER.

The other person had to be taken to the ER twice. He was released within a couple hours after his orthopedic surgery. His pain killers did not work. He has Kaiser. I had to wait until the doctor's office was open in the morning, drive out to get a prescription, then later to the ER when nothing was working. He later ended up taken by ambulance to the ER when he had a bad reaction to one of the meds. Had they kept him in the hospital longer his pain medication could have been regulated. I think it would have saved money in the long run compared to two trips to the ER.

I know of other people who have had the same experience being dismissed too soon following surgery. I'd love to know if any studies have been done to determine if these early hospital releases actually save or cost money and how they effect short term comfort and long term recovery.
Carol-Lee, Portland, OR

4 Posted by Scott Smyser at 06/04/08 03:58 PM

Of the 10% that are not covered in Maine, how many are under the age of 30? Many individuals who are under the age of 30, especially 21-25 don't carry insurance because they don't think they need it. Many would rather spend the money on forms of entertainment. Also, those who don't have health insurance will not be turned down by a hospital. The cost will just be allocated among those of us who pay for insurance. There are many stories about people who abuse emergency rooms because they know they can get taken care of for free without having insurance. Instead of going to the store and paying $3 for Aspirin they will go into the ER and complain about a headache. More often than not, unnecessary CTs will be performed driving up the cost even further. All over a simple headache. I am not saying that are health care system is perfect, but I think it is spun in a very negative aspect. Saying 47 million people are without healthcare over and over, relays the image that 47 million people can't afford healthcare, a total inaccuracy. There is an agenda out there that is pushing for socialized medicine. Health care is not a right. I would encourage you to take your tour to Canada and ask people up there how they feel about socialized medicine.

5 Posted by M. Gabriel at 06/05/08 03:56 AM

Mr. Smyser,

"Instead of going to the store and paying $3 for Aspirin they will go into the ER and complain about a headache."

Ridiculous. I think you need to spend more time sitting in an ER waiting area and less time blogging on behalf of an industry that has failed so many of us.

6 Posted by amanda at 06/06/08 03:39 AM

mr.smyser-that's exactly why we need health care reform! so the system doesn't charge 1000 for a 3 dollar bottle of aspirin at the er.

as someone who went without insurance for years as a reckless 20-something, I can tell you that I never went to the er for a headache. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn't get hurt and need a hospital visit.

it wasn't until recently when I got insurance that I realized I was better off without it, in terms of cost. the point is the cost and the services provided do not match. insurance isn't a break on the cost that it should be and with or without insurance, no one in this country can afford to get sick.

7 Posted by Daniel Schramm at 06/06/08 03:49 AM

Hi, Mr. Smyser.

I am 26 years old, and I DO have insurance, through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Last year I had to go to the ER due to a minor injury. My insurance DID NOT cover it. In addition to paying $2000 a year for a $50,000 deductible, I found out that Blue Cross refuses to cover visits to Emergency Rooms "outside its coverage area." (I was in Ohio when I went to the hospital but my insurance was based in Vermont.)

Did I have to personally pay the $1300 bill the hospital sent me? No. Because after I threatened to sue the hospital, they agreed to eat the cost due to my economic hardship (I'm a student with $0 income). Great for me (kind of), too bad for the hospital. Who made a profit on this transaction? You guessed it, the insurance company.

Yeah, the system's in great shape.

8 Posted by Russ at 06/09/08 12:56 AM

Schramm's comments reinforce Smyser's position.
- People do not read their policies. That' not the insurance companies fault. College students are intelligent enough to read insurance policies.
- Threats of frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of care. Doesn't the doctor that took care of Schramm deserve to be paid for the care provided?
Fraud is rampant. The abuse goes both ways.

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