Once again, I woke up this morning to find a front page newspaper story stating that Anthem is again looking for double-digit rate increases. My wife and I are now seriously thinking about leaving Maine (just as so many before us have packed up and fled).
When Anthem was negotiating to buy Maine’s not-for-profit health-care system they swore, if memory serves me correctly, to keep things status quo and not raise rates. Over the next five years, I watched my rates more than double. Over the past few years, I have tried to keep “my health care sanity” by increasing my deductible and manipulating other parts of the plan, which have incurred more out of pocket expenditures.
While I fully believe in the American way that private business is in business to make a profit, I can’t for a second see how our state lawmakers continue to let Anthem steamroll them with this crap (can you tell yet that I’m fuming?).
Anthem continues to make yearly net profits in the tens of millions of dollars. A few years back, their CEO was given a $40-plus million bonus. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Anthem is making huge profits and giving out huge bonuses by putting the burden on the backs of the little guys like me, the small business owners, and other individuals.
When do our lawmakers finally do something for those who live here? Hopefully, it will be before my family and thousands of others like us move out! I would love to hear from any state legislator who can prove to me that anything constructive is happening. I’m listed in the phone book. I would love to hear directly from our Governor. Hey, John, here’s your invitation to give me a call before I finish packing.
Roy Rosenberg
Cape Elizabeth
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