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Name: AARPMAINE
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Portland, Maine
United States
Portland, Maine
United States
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Welcome to AARP Maine!
In the Pine Tree State, more than half of all Mainers over 50 years old are members of AARP. Presently we have over 236,000 members right here in Maine! AARP opened a professionally staffed Maine office in November 2001. Though our office is located in Portland, we travel statewide, engaging our members in advocacy, education and community service.
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Capitol City Task Force Session Wrap-Up
2nd Session of the 123rd Maine Legislature
April 30, 2008
Introduction
Capitol City Task Force (CCTF) includes Bruce Kinney (Chair), George Baldwin, Jean Dellert, Norman Ferguson, Elinor Goldblatt, Roberta Goodell, David Hall, Rena Heath, Shawn Lewin, Ernie Marriner, and Harry True. Nancy Kelleher, AARP-Maine’s Advocacy Director, staffs CCTF which meets weekly during the Legislative Session.
During the second Session of the 123rd Maine Legislature, AARP Maine was actively engaged in many policy debates; however, most of our work was in related to major budget decisions. Specifically, we worked on Legislative Documents (LDs) or Bills that dealt with access to home & community based care, consumer protections for those in mortgage foreclosure, taxation reform or relief for some groups, and continued funding for DIRIGO and proposals to change insurance regulations.
CCTF members scan all printed legislation for its relevance to AARP members and our social impact agenda. We then review and assign important legislation to either “support”, ‘oppose” or “watch”. During this Session, CCTF focused on 21 Bills. Of those 21 Bills, 13 ended up as “dead” with half of them dealing with tax issues, including a Bill that would have provided tax relief for totally disabled veterans. The other Bills that died (that we were interested in) had to do with aspects of increasing home and community based care, benefits for direct care workers, support for certain Assisted Living facilities and state funding for LIHEAP. Because of the tight budget situation, many of the Bills we followed, passed in the committee of jurisdiction, passed in the House and Senate but died on the Appropriations Committee table. One other Bill of note was the Administration’s Bill which re-organized DHHS and eliminated the Office of Elder Services. This Bill passed in amended format and was later included in the budget language.
Summary of 21 Bills (LDs)
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Position
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Final Action
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Supported 6
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5 Passed
1 Defeated
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Opposed 1
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1 Defeated
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Watched 14
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3 Passed
11 Defeated
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Of the 7 remaining Bills we supported or watched, two were passed as Resolves, and 5 were signed into law. These are described below:
1. Budget Proposals
Access to Services
The budget debate started on December 18, 2007 when the Governor announced his own cuts to the current budget of $38 million under an executive Curtailment Order. Many of these cuts were in the area of elder services including cuts to Homemaker Program, Home & Community Based Services (HCBS), day care services for elderly, program funds for Area Agencies on Aging and independent housing services. In early January, the Governor submitted a supplemental budget which continued these cuts and many others into the next two budget years. LD 2173 proposed cuts of about $90 million with about $70 million coming for health and social services. By early March that number had doubled as the revenue forecasting committee lowered revenue estimates for the state. By early March, we were faced with budget cuts of about $180 million.
Member Engagement
AARP worked hard to restore many of the cuts to programs serving the elderly. We were present at the candlelight vigil held during the State of the State Address in January. There were thirty AARP volunteers in red shirts at two other big rallies at the state house. One included almost 1,000 people who came to speak out against the cuts and was widely reported as the largest rally in recent history. In addition, we sent out two action alerts and got our members to call and write their legislators to oppose budget cuts. CCTF members and staff offered written testimony against the cuts at four Public Hearings in front of the Appropriations and Health & Human Services Committees.
Many of the proposed cuts were restored for elder programs….even though the final budget did include $170 million in cuts and service reductions in state spending. Half of the proposed cuts to HCBS were restored as well as funding for Homemaker Services, Independent Living, Adult Day Health services. Funding was not restored for the Alzheimer’s training program, AAAs across the state, Keeping Seniors Home program and independent assessments for Homemaker services. In addition, a long awaited program was eliminated before it even started—the Elder Services Healthy Housing Communities program-- which had been funded at over $1.3m.
Access to Health Care
The other area of the budget that was targeted for major cuts was the MaineCare (Medicaid) program. Although many areas of the MaineCare program were cut, many of the cuts were substantially reduced. The MaineCare program serving very low income adults (non-cats) was reduced by requiring greater use of generic drugs, cuts to durable medical equipment and supplies and cuts from podiatry services. Areas that were restored include the (reduced) pharmacy benefit for participants, further reductions in enrollment caps, and increases in co-pays for doctor and hospital visits. About 25% of those enrolled in the non-categorical program are people between the ages of 50-64.
One aspect of the budget was separated out into LD 2290 which contained the language needed to increase the tax and match amount raised by Maine’s hospitals. This higher amount will make up the revenue to balance the budget. This meant that legislators and the Governor could say they passed a budget without any broad based tax increases or by using any of the “rainy day” funds to balance the budget. (See DIRIGO below)
2. Consumer Protection
CCTF supported LD 2189, An Act to Protect Homeowners from Equity Stripping during Foreclosure. The Bill was amended to clarify some points, but the essential goal of the Bill was passed overwhelmingly in the Insurance & Financial Services Committee and by the House and Senate. It was signed into law April 11, 2008. This new law was prompted by concerns over the mortgage crisis and targets a practice called “foreclosure purchasing…or rescuing” in which a company purchases the title to a foreclosed property with the intent of allowing the owner to occupy the property and repurchase the home. While there are honorable foreclosure companies, this law prohibits purchasing titles for substantially less than fair market value, then creating contract provisions that make it impossible to repurchase the property. High interest rates and the substantial fees involved often lead to the eviction of the homeowner and the loss of any equity that had been built in the property. Foreclosure purchasers will now have licensing requirements similar to those already required of supervised lenders. The new law also provides for credit counseling and the right to cancel within five days. It also required owners receive 82% of the fair market value of the property if they have to leave the home, and creates criminal and civil penalties for lenders who do engage in equity stripping.
3. DIRIGO
AARP supported the concept behind DIRIGO from its beginning, when it was passed as a bi-partisan attempt to lower health care cost through cost containment and to offer an affordable insurance product for the uninsured and those small businesses that wanted to offer health care insurance for their employees. With that in mind, we supported LD2247 An Act to continue Maine’s Leadership in Covering the Uninsured. This Bill was amended and had multiple committee reports coming out of the Insurance & Financial Services Committee. After many weeks of negotiations and behind closed doors discussions, it passed in the House by a secure margin and in the Senate by one vote (along partisan lines).
The Senate stripped off the proposed tobacco tax increase included in the original Bill and substituted a combination of increased taxes on wine and beer, taxes on soda and soda syrup, and funding from the Fund for Healthy Maine which included about $2m in current program cuts. LD 2247 also substituted an assessment on insurance products to replace the Saving Offset Payments (SOP) which were highly controversial. This law keeps DIRIGO afloat for at least one more year, but has caused the business leaders in the wine, beer, and soda industry to strongly object to the new taxes and the way they were added at the last minutes or days of the session. A group opposing the new taxes has already started a “people’s veto” citizen’s initiative process to repeal this law.
Community Rating
One other important aspect of this new law is the whole debate about changing Maine’s community rating in attempt to lower costs to younger, healthier purchasers of health care insurance and to revive the individual and small group market. The new DIRIGO law makes changes to community rating bands in asymmetrical manner that is supposed to protect Maine’s elderly and sick populations. In the closing days of the Session, CCTF volunteers and staff were very active in defeating LD 1760 which was a carry over Bill from last Session. LD 1760 was modeled after a Idaho law which included a high risk pool and almost total elimination of community rating protections. It would have allowed insurance companies to charge higher premiums to those who may be over 50, have health problems or live in certain areas of the state or work at certain jobs. In the end, LD 1760 was overwhelmingly rejected in the House and Senate.
4. Consumer Protection—Hospital Errors
LD 2044, An Act to Prohibit Health Care Facilities from Charging for Treatment to Correct Mistakes or Preventable Adverse Events was another Bill watched by CCTF and staff and was passed and signed into law. This law prohibits a health care facility from knowingly charging a patient or insurer for treatment to correct mistakes or preventable adverse events. Although the Maine Hospital Association made a big push for voluntary efforts in this area, Maine lawmakers were convinced that they should also have a law on the books to prevent this from happening in Maine.
5. Home & Community Based Care Study
CCTF supported LD 2052 which became a Resolve that establishes a Blue Ribbon Commission to study long term care and home and community based care. This Commission will include legislators but will only come into effect if private funding can be found to pay for the study.
6. Livable Communities---Tax Law Changes
CCTF actively continued to follow and support several tax changes. While most tax reform and relief Bills died this Session, LD 2202 was one Bill that did get signed into law with the support of AARP. This new law allows municipalities to abate taxes for seniors in exchange for public service work in accordance with specific guidelines.
7. Livable Communities—Utility Laws
CCTF weighed in on two Bills before the Utility Committee. LD 2149 originally would have required time of use meters to be used for peak time electrical use. The Bill also dealt with net energy billing and home energy audits. AARP opposed the mandatory use of time of use meters and the Bill became a Resolve for the PUC to review and implement while time of use meters remained optional. AARP also supported LD 2104 which was introduced to ensure that Maine consumers would pay fair rates for telephone services when a telephone company is found to have set excessive residential rates. This law was in direct response to the actions of the PUC in regards to a decade long rate case between AARP and The Office of Public Advocate against Verizon on residential rate setting which ultimately was resolved in AARP’s favor.
Added: May 5, 2008
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