A new report from the Urban Institute has found that Maine will see the largest percentage increase in the uninsured rate in the entire country if the Republican lawsuit to strike down the Affordable Care Act is successful, with an estimate of 105,000 Mainers losing their health care coverage.
Senator Susan Collins paved the way for the lawsuit to eliminate the ACA with her vote for the 2017 GOP tax bill. Next month, the Trump administration’s legal team will argue before the Supreme Court that Collins “knowingly voted to destroy the health care law” but even after her Republican allies invoked her support for the tax bill to try to rip health care coverage from tens of millions of Americans, Collins has remained adamant that she doesn’t regret her vote “at all.”
Maine Public: Report: Maine Would See Worst-In-Nation Increase In Uninsured If Affordable Care Act Is Overturned
By Patty Wight
October 19, 2020
Key Points:
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A report from a Washington, D.C.-based think tank finds that if the Affordable Care Act is overturned, Maine would see the largest percent increase in the uninsured of any state. The Urban Institute estimates that 105,000 people would lose health insurance.
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Looking ahead to 2022, when the economy is expected to be in partial recovery from the COVID-19 recession, the Urban Institute projects that 5% of Maine’s population would be uninsured if the Affordable Care Act is in place. But the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case challenging the law next month, and Urban Institute fellow and health economist Linda Blumberg says if the court declares the ACA unconstitutional, the number of uninsured in Maine would triple to 15%.
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“The states that gained the most then have the most to lose if the law is overturned, so that’s a big problem for Maine,” she says.
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Blumberg says Maine would also lose $746 million in federal funding, which covers marketplace subsidies that make plans more affordable, as well as 90 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion.
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