Improving Health Care Coverage and Affordability

Ensuring that high-quality health coverage is affordable and accessible is a critical component of the Department’s work to promote the health of Maine people. In addition to expanding coverage through MaineCare, the Department leads several cross-cutting and intra-governmental efforts to promote health coverage options, address high premiums and out-of-pocket costs for consumers, and take steps to impact the underlying costs of health care.

CoverME Enrollment Campaign

Launched by DHHS with support from the Maine Health Access Foundation and a grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CoverME is a statewide campaign to promote affordable health insurance options. The campaign includes a website, CoverME.gov, with resources to help consumers, self-employed people, and small businesses learn about coverage options, find local assistance, and start enrollment applications. The Department promotes CoverME.gov and coverage options through an advertising campaign and through collaboration with community partners providing outreach and direct enrollment assistance, particularly to underserved populations.

News and Updates

LD 2007 - The Made for Maine Health Coverage Act

LD 2007, The Made for Maine Health Coverage Act, would make some of the most common medical visits free or less costly, simplify shopping for a plan, leverage federal funds to help make premiums more affordable for small businesses, and put Maine in the driver’s seat to ensure that all Maine people have clear choices for their coverage. To learn more, please see the LD 2007 fact sheet.

News and Updates

Prescription Drug Importation Program

On June 24, 2019, Governor Mills signed in to law a package of drug pricing reform legislation, including LD 1274, An Act To Increase Access to Low-cost Prescription Drugs. This law directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a program to allow for the wholesale importation of prescription drugs from Canada and to submit a proposal to the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services to approve the Maine program. The Department submitted an initial application on May 1, 2020, and is awaiting the outcome of the federal rulemaking process which will establish parameters for program approval.

News and Updates

All In: A Forum on Health Care Coverage and Affordability in Maine

On August 29, 2019, Governor Janet Mills convened health care leaders from Maine and the nation to discuss strategies to improve the affordability and accessibility of coverage for Maine people. Strategies discussed included insurance reforms, Health Insurance Marketplace ideas, Federal waiver options, and addressing underlying health costs.

Materials and Presentations

All In Forum Agenda (PDF), All In Speaker Bios (PDF), All In Forum Presentations (PDF), resource bibliography

A video recording of the event is available upon request.