Letter to the Editor: Poliquin’s record on health care not good for constituents

2 mins read

After two terms running as hard as possible away from his record, Rep. Bruce Poliquin is giving us a full court press of bold talk. Unfortunately it is just that since his real record shows someone allied with big money and not standing for his constituents. Perhaps it is good to have as much dust in the air as possible since Representative Poliquin’s health care votes have been so harmful to the folks back home. Take health care, perhaps the key issue in this House race. His votes against key provisions of the Affordable Care Act have resulted in greater out of pocket costs to many Mainers, a higher bill for the federal government, and more people without insurance. That’s all because the Republican obsession of repealing Obamacare has only succeeded in weakening the provisions that have held down costs.

In response, recognizing that costs are going up, the Trump administration has loosened the regulations on short term insurance plans, the health care equivalent of junk bonds. These are policies that offer low premiums but high deductibles and policies that are laced with loop holes such as preexisting condition exclusions, benefit caps, and lots of exceptions. These junk policies, as detailed in a recent Portland Press Herald article (Joe Lawler, August 12, 2018) are only good if you don’t file a claim.

What is Rep. Jared Golden’s position on healthcare? Very simple: first repair the ACA and reverse the insurance death spiral of rising costs and declining insurance we otherwise face. Second he wants to explore ways to get affordable coverage for as many people as possible. Sounds good to me.

Bruce Poliquin has a well earned reputation for bobbing and weaving around his positions as though he can be everything to everybody. However, after 4 years in Washington his tracks and fingerprints are not hard to spot on the legislation and policies that benefit the most well to do and ignore the real needs at home.

Steve Bien, MD
Farmington

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

27 Comments

  1. Health care is a business not a charity. The reason health care is priced like it is is, because there is no free market health care. The equipment is expensive, and the price of the doctor can be expensive. A couple hundred thousand for a decent X-ray machine, most radiologists fresh out of medical school aren’t going to be able to afford one, so hospitals have cornered that market, Maine has 3 private practice radiologists, not enough to challenge the hospitals in Maine to effect what they charge for an X-ray. Maine has no private practice emergency care doctors and most people call an ambulance anyway, which most are private and charge for their services, so another cost. So an emergency room visit can cost a couple thousand dollars before you have even gotten there, then add another $1000 or more for that. Now for insurance, they way insurance works is you get the insurance BEFORE something bad happens. Insurance companies are not required to offer insurance that covers preexisting illnesses. When you have a car, you don’t have the wreck then call Progressive to buy a policy, same with medical insurance. Here is the secret to lower premiums, quit doing unhealthy things, insurance companies will stick it to people who are overweight, smoke(anything), drink more than they think you should, 3/4ths of the men and 60% of the women are obese and nearly 30% of boys and girls under 20 are overweight or obese. Obesity leads to diabetes, heart disease, liver problems and etc. Smoking and all the things that leads to. Insurance companies are there to help keep you healthy, not make you healthy, people have to take some responsibility for themselves. The price of not taking care of yourself is, higher insurance premiums because you are going to require more care and more expensive care. The government is not responsible for your lifetime of bad habits.

  2. HB: I must agree with part of what you say: We all need to take personal responsibility for our health by eating reasonably well: the right foods, reasonable amounts, and getting some exercise. We need to treat ourselves from time to time, but not to excess. We need to exercise, again, reasonable amounts.

    We also need to do our maintenance checking with the doctor, to minimize the “surprise problems” a as we get older.

    Fascinating thing though: We are healthy in our family, with no chronic illnesses, or needs for diabetes, or heart medicine, and yet our premiums have never been higher. Between our piece of the premium, and our company’s, we are paying almost 1700 per month…for two people. We, as a nation, need to have a serious discussion about health care, and take concrete steps to get the cost down.

    Why should we pay a third more than other “modern countries” and cover fewer of our people? Hint: profits

  3. POTP, Nobody is forcing anybody to spend money on insurance or doctors. It’s a go, don’t go type of thing. I pay $80 a week for one person, 80 a week to save thousands is a small price to pay. We pay more for care, because we have better care. The UK and Canada and every other country with universal healthcare, has “death panels “, that means that when you get to a point where your life is worth less than the cost to keep you alive, they load you up with the greatest drug cocktail you ever had and come back with a transplant team, or they give you a prescription for really good painkillers to make you as comfortable as possible and wait a few weeks or months until you die. Cancer patients being taken off treatment because it was too much of a burden on the system. And these countries have a lot less population than we have. And in the UK every hospital is one big emergency room, that’s all the care they offer, everything else is handled by general practitioners or private doctors, they don’t work weekends or holidays. So if you get sick on Friday, you are screwed until Monday when the GP opens up again because they won’t treat you at the hospital, they only do emergency care, a case of the sniffles is not a priority, and mandatory vaccinations, Americans will love that.

  4. I am so grateful for VA healthcare. It costs me nothing. I don’t see how people can afford theirs. It costs a ton to pay the 30 mil salaries for insurance and pharma execs. They can’t be expected to scrape by on 15-20 mil a year.

  5. I’m a 10 year military veteran.
    Honorably discharged.

    I don’t qualify for squat as far as health Care benefits.

    Just do people don’t think all vets get plush benefits.

  6. I find I need to disagree with your philosophy: Public Health is such a great cost, with a high negative impact, that it should be considered a foundation of our communities.

    Checking the US against the Western World,we will find our country lacking in support for people with low incomes.

    If you are making $30,000, house payments, and expecting a 2nd child, can you afford insurance to cover a difficult pregnancy? Not likely unless you are working for a generous company….

    Death panels? what supporting evidence? from Canada? Let’s keep it close…what is there namer the “panel” and what is their charter?

  7. Hrtlss:
    Unless you’re a superhero or extremely lucky, you will get sick or injured enough to require a doctor. A broken leg or appendicitis are not “go or don’t go type thing(s)”.

    Americans do not pay more because our care is better. The U.S. spends more on health care per person, and as a percentage of gross domestic product, than any other advanced nation in the world, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. All that money has not made Americans healthier than the rest of the world. Our high-priced health care system leaves millions out. We spend more yet end up with less. Americans pay more because the medical system is broken by profiteering (mostly by insurance and pharmaceutical companies) and a system (Including faults in the ACA) that allows this to continue.

    Your take on universal healthcare in other countries is both factually incorrect and a tired example of the fearmongering that took place during the original ACA debate.

    Medicare for all.

  8. 1 Of all the industrialized countries on the face of the earth the USA has the highest costs and the lowest quality care(
    2 Poliquin was the subject of the letter. Poliquin needs to go Sent me letter saying he had gone to Washington to lower health insurance costs Since then my costs have tripled.
    Sorry Had his chance Time to go

  9. Part of the reason for high insurance rates is because their are less people paying than there is using it. I find it difficult to believe that the 70,000 plus people in Maine that will be getting insurance because of my paycheck and yours can’t afford $30-$40 per month. That’s what my family of 4 pays for our health insurance. Maybe people should stop looking for handouts and go to work maybe even work two jobs like many many people do. We shouldn’t have to pay their way because they need smartphones and cable television. If you can’t cover bare necessities don’t get the extras.

  10. Just recently got married……..my health insurance more than tripled because I said ‘I do!!” My husband has a plan and I have a plan. Between the two of us we are paying almost $2000 a month to be insured. Say nothing about the high deductible for both plans. We basically have insurance in case anything major happens, cause it surely does not cover anything else!!!!

  11. I have paid out the Yazoo fir health insurance all my working life so that others can have insurance.
    Ok fine.

    So shut up, stop complaining and enjoy your health Care that I have provided for you.

  12. Seamus, Yeah, still not forced to go to a doctor, it is a choice. People make choices all the time, most of the time they choose poorly, but the choice is ultimately theirs. Those countries you mentioned use death Panels(Palin’s term) most developed countries with universal healthcare use the more politically correct term health care rationing.

    POTP, A simple question, What do you consider low income? $30,000 a year? $50,000? Maine’s poverty line for Mainecare eligibility: a single person, $15,000. A family of 2, $21,000. A family of 3, $27,000. A family of 4 $32,000.
    Federal poverty line for Medicaid eligibility: single person, $12,000. A family of 2, $16,000. A family of 3, $20,000. A family of 4, $25,000.

    Your family of 4 scenario(assuming the father is in the picture), already qualifies for both Mainecare and Medicaid.
    Oh, what you asked, give this a read.

    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/10/canada_has_death_panels_and_that_s_a_good_thing.html

  13. Doc… I am guessing you are a good doc… and a brown dog democrat… quite obvious of the latter… I suggest you stick with your doctoring and forget politics.. Are you like the Skowhegan gas man and only treat democrats and Trump haters?

  14. Re Death Panels and Ugly Drapes

    In the UK and Canada Hrtlss Bstrd could get the treatment he so desperately needs and is to proud to ask for
    …………for awhile anyway!

    A neighborhood/local committee could take a vote and he’d have to go along with it
    ……………………..the same committee could also end it “enough, he’s just getting worse, remove him from support”

    “The only debate to be had about death panels is who sits on them. Every system has a death panel: in the NHS, it’s basically run by doctors. Whether it’s Obamacare or Trumpcare in the USA, it’s run by insurance companies; those advocating a different American system need to work out who will run that system’s Death Panel.”

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/8/1660050/-Death-Panels-are-a-feature-of-any-healthcare-system

  15. Thank you for the confirmation HB: from your resource: Ontario’s Consent and Capacity Board provides an objective process for resolving these difficult, end-of-life dilemmas. The board is instructed by law to focus on the patient’s best interests, not the health care system’s, or the government’s bottom line.

    The panel is there to support decision making in the situation where the patient can be kept alive, with no quality of life. Designated family members make the first pass at the decision, if the doctor’s strongly disagree, they can defer to the “Consent and Capacity Board” to use their expertise in considering the life the patient on life support is living, and what is best for them. Sounds like the nick name death panel, could also be swapped to quality of life panel?

    My wife currently has that authority.

    So, do you trust the experts? always a question in medicine. My Canadian family members in the Province of Ontario have not flagged their discontent, and they have experienced life and death,

    We all will pass at some time in the future….I hope we all pass peacefully during the middle of the night, after an excellent dinner with close friends and family, after living out 90 or so active years….

  16. HB Thank you for the source: “Ontario’s Consent and Capacity Board provides an objective process for resolving these difficult, end-of-life dilemmas. The board is instructed by law to focus on the patient’s best interests, not the health care system’s, or the government’s bottom line.” So I guess the nickname death panel could be used, or Consent and capacity…

    Currently my wife has the role of the Consent and Capacity board. Maybe the name should be the Quality of Life board? If I am non responsive, and with no hope of recovering, I hope the brave decision is made: Get a second opinion, and if warranted, say good bye, remembering the caring, and giving times.

    May we all live to pass away quietly in our own beds, after 90 or so good years, after enjoying a final evening with family or friends, and may we all have good health care right up to that peaceful end.

  17. @VETERAN: As long as you have an honorable discharge you are covered for EVERYTHING! Who told you otherwise?

  18. I think that Dr Bien has a reasonable and a better grasp of the problems facing his patients than Glen Holt

  19. David, according to the va make to much money to get health services from the VA.
    So I continue to okay out the nose for health insurance on my own.
    I’m not really complaining. I received some great training while in the military that had a lot to do work my ability to earn a very good wage for all these years.
    But my body is telling me I should start thinking about semi retiring or just flat out retiring.
    I called the VA and was told I make too much money to receive medical services.
    Thankful I make good money,, happy to share some to help yo
    Others less fortunate,,, surprised by their answer.
    So be it. I will survive.

  20. Chuck…. I am sure the good Dr. has a better grasp on his patients problems…. I also have my opinions… I feel that the current Rep for CDD 1 has done more for his constituents than many prior Reps.. It is easy for Mr. Golden to say what he would do to fix Obama care… But that is just talk.. All politicians do that.. MD’s should keep their political views separate for their work… Ask the Millbridge Md. about that..

  21. Parent! You pay 30-40$ a month but thanks to the ACA you don’t pay the other 1000+ that it actually costs.This is also takes the burden off the Sate. You are getting way more than you pay your taxes that actually contribute to the health system. The real problem with our healthcare is the flat cost and control by insurance companies to decide who is worth it. I pay over 600$ per month plus 5k in deductibles which I pay out of pocket which only takes about 1-2 months due to a life long genetic disease and my employer another 1200 for a family of four. Above “Just Saying” is paying 2K a month and subsidized low income families 30-40, extreme impoverished free….
    My private insurance raises flags at the Dr. and they send me for all kinds of testing to stretch out the billing. They have to becasue Mainecare gets to decide what they pay not he hospitals but private insurance is different. I get the bill for what my insurance won’t pay. Last time it was over 200$ for basic lab work and get this 77$ out of 120$ for taking my blood pressure/ med list/ and height and weight. Tell me why 5 min with a CNA taking my vitals is worth $120 and 10 min with the Dr. pushes a visit into the 1000’s? One month of medication cost me over 2500$ a dose x2 -= 5k a month… The private medical industry that Poliquin silently endorses is for investors not patients and they lose with public healthcare. That is the heart the health care problem. We are the biggest private industry in the U.S. Farming sick people for profit driven industries.

  22. I believe that service retirees are gen covered by the VA

    I believe that the VA will treat veterans other than retirees if the “condition” is shown to be service connected

    There is no financial threshold for treatment by the VA (in my experience)

    I made application (with a well paying job) for a service connected hearing loss twenty years after discharge and was examined by the VA and evaluated with a 20% loss

    Yes, the third world status we enjoy as a leading industrial nation as to health care delivery and access in the civilized world is very much a matter of politics and all medical service providers should be involved

  23. Seamus the reason I pay for it at all is because of the mandate by Obama now rolled back by our President Trump. I recently had blood testing done for Lyme disease and yes after I paid my copay I still got a bill of $200. A few years ago I had a scope done to check for ulcers and that bill was over $2000. I have a large deductible as well as anyone else. I should rephrase my statement. It’s not only the ones we pay for that are able to pay as all are if they put priorities in order it is the gouging from hospitals,dr.s, and big pharma. I know a woman that wasn’t referred to a hospital that was more advanced and capable of diagnosing her than Farmington because she paid with cash amd had no insurance. That is completely wrong and those people shouldn’t be allowed in medicine. Many people have lost faith in this “industry” and they have only some to put the burden on for their pay.

  24. I believe the VA threshold is $35,000 a year. Below that there are no copays. Since my retirement income is slightly less,I pay nothing. When I have to drive to Togus I get a check the next week for $42.00 for travel expenses.

  25. Sam, it’s simple farmonomics, are you going to butcher a cow that gives good milk? Medical care is available from hair to toe nails and everything in between. The hard reality is, people have a right to it, and nobody has a right to demand that other people pay for it. Look at the US. We are one of the middle populated countries, yet 33.70% of our population is obese, we are also one of the most materialistic populations. Family of 4, 4 seat Honda Civic for $18,000 or a Ford Explorer for $40,000? I see more SUVs picking up kids from school than I do anything else. $600 iphone or $20 flip phone? Functional 20in tv or 72in 4K ultra? A book or E-reader? People need to prioritize their healthcare and forgo the other stuff they don’t need. Getting the flu could kill you, not getting an iPhone won’t.

  26. HtlsB: I see your point and fit into the latter of your comparisons. I may believe in public services for our community but I’m actually very fiscally conservative at home. Drive a small car, prioritize my family health and food, and have a cheap cell and service. Basically I live under my means becasue I believe it is my responsibility to prepare for my families future.

    The reason I support public services is becasue I would rather get direct returns for the taxes I have to pay that make my community healthier rather than support wasted spending on binary political b.s. Personally, as a professional patient, not by choice buy necessity, I would love to see a major change in my medical providers. I see people I don’t know who know way more about me then I feel comfortable with and have to spend time, gas, and money just to get services I already pay huge amounts for.

    You are correct to point out that our social mentality about food and consumptive overabundance is a major factor tied to national health. We need to accept that we are a very unhealthy country both physically and mentally, then we can move forward towards a healthy one. We have so few socially and economically conscious educational programs in our country. We also have allowed eating terrible food and having cheap or expensive stuff to be acceptable normal behavior. Look at how this stuff is advertised, deregulated, subsidized with taxpayer money, and pushed on us everyday as a good time or the best choice. Eat a steamed vegetable or sugar soaked meats…? Seems like a matter of choice and intelligence (I’m not a total proof and treats are treats but every day is new day). Now try to find the people providing healthy living and cost of living economic spending advice and education… When I go the the Hospital more than half the people working there are overweight and drinking soda. Large corporations selling poison and tasty high fat/sugar/ salt foods win every time becasue they have lobbyists with more money, Public money spending on education has been made into a scapegoat false narrative that every taxpayer thinks they are paying for 100%. Look at national spending and see more than half (about 54% ) of your fed taxes go to directly to military budget and less than 6% goes to Health and Medicare. Moral is, we need to smarten up as consumers of everything and learn needs from wants.This mentality needs to transfer to public spending. The Federal Government needs to spend more on what makes us healthy and less on what corporations want to be able to sell you junk you don’t need.

    Back to the subject of the article: Bruce Poliquin, has anyone seen him lately? The guy is like a locked door deal making ghost. His adds make erroneous claims but I’ve never seen him do anything needed
    for Maine people.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.