Westbrook, MAINE - Today, Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett slammed Republican Congressman Bruce Poliquin for his role in increasing health insurance premiums for Maine people. 

Bartlett’s criticism comes after Maine’s two leading health insurance providers in the individual market announced they will be increasing rates by more than 9 percent in 2019. Both Harvard Pilgrim and Maine Community Health Options specifically reference the sabotage of the ACA individual mandate as the reason for the premium increases they plan to charge.

Congressman Poliquin voted to sabotage the Affordable Care Act as a part of the GOP effort to give tax cuts to the wealth and corporations, despite warnings that it would directly lead to health insurance premium increases for Mainers.

   “Congressman Poliquin has repeatedly voted to gut the Affordable Care Act and diminish its critical protections, knowing full well what it would do to health insurance premiums. Today, we’re seeing the full effect of his poor judgement in the form of higher health insurance premiums for Mainers,” said Bartlett. 

  “Poliquin’s record on health care is harmful to the people he claims to represent. He voted for a Republican health care policies that aimed to cut people off from their health insurance, sharply increase their costs, cut deeply into their Medicaid, and plunge rural hospitals and the communities they support into economic peril, all while failing to be honest about the merits of what he was supporting. 

“With a record like this, Mainers just simply can’t afford to send Bruce Poliquin back to Washington.”

For a complete timeline of Poliquin’s and Republicans’ ACA sabotage, click HERE.

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