Medicare Expansion Would Cost Mainers, Experts Say

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LEWISTON -- Maine health care experts said Friday that a tentative deal struck by U.S. Senate Democrats on health care reform could result in higher private insurance costs in the state, and Maine's moderate Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, say they oppose the deal.

The idea put forth as part of an alternative to a government-run health care plan, known as the "public option," would allow individuals 55 to 64 years old to buy into the Medicare system. They would have to pay the true cost of the program, rather than the subsidized version that those 65 and older pay, but they would get largely the same benefits. Hospitals and doctors providing services to those patients would get reimbursed at the Medicare rate.

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Medicare Expansion Would Cost Mainers, Experts Say

Mary Mayhew, vice president of government affairs for the Maine Hospital Association, said Maine's hospitals currently receive the second-worst reimbursement in the country, about 79 cents on $1 of cost.

When hospitals get...

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