Sunday, May 8, 2011

You’ll have to read it to find out what’s in it…

How soon they forget…

Don’t know whether you’ve been following the news regarding ‘health care reform’ here in Maine.  A bill has been working its way through the legislative process that would restructure some of the relevant regulations in our state, regulations that have arguably given us amongst the highest, if not THE highest insurance premiums in the country.

Here’s a recent report on the progress of that legislation:

During the House debate leading up to the roll-call vote, more than a dozen Democrats registered their opposition to the provisions of the bill as well as to its fast-track progress through the legislative process.

Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, a member of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, compared the bill to a used car “rushed off the lot so fast that the Bondo patching wasn’t even dry.”


The complex bill was “rushed out of committee” after an April 29 work session and approved along party lines without an opportunity for lawmakers to read it or have their questions answered, Treat said in her comments before the vote. The final language of the bill was posted online at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, she said, leaving lawmakers little opportunity to review it before voting on Thursday.


Treat urged legislative newcomers to resist the bill’s “hard sell” by GOP leadership and take the time to understand its impact on long-standing consumer protections and on the insurance industry.

As it turns out, this was just the first of many votes on the legislation.  None the less, we can’t help but reminisce about the current circumstances vis-a-vis Obama-care legislation.

We read that the bill currently working it’s way through Maine’s law making process is 26 pages.  That compares to what we recall was a 2600 page document at the federal level, or 100 times longer on paper than the Maine proposal.

We also recall the incredibly arrogant statement by then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that ‘we’ll have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.’

If only we had a good memory of the ‘Dirigo Health Care’ process, we could probably come up with even better examples.

We don’t need to however, to make it clear just how whiny and duplicitous the new minority is, now that their 35 year plus strangle-hold on Maine governance is no more.

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