Augusta, MAINE – In case you missed, an analysis by the Maine Center for Economy Policy (MECEP) refutes an argument made by Senator Susan Collins that her flimsy deal to pass stabilization and reinsurance bills will prevent people from losing health insurance and paying higher premiums. To the contrary, MECEP shows that the study Collins embraced to make her point actually embarrassingly disproves it.
“In short, Senator Collins’s numbers don’t add up,” wrote Garrett Martin, MECEP Exeuctive Director, in a blog post. “Her starting point does not reflect current reality and double counts the impact of the Alexander-Murray proposal. Equally troubling is the fact that she is relying on her Republican colleagues in the U.S. House to enact her two proposals which they have already gone on record as being against. Even if they are enacted, they expire in two years and will do little to stabilize insurance markets because of uncertainty about whether or not they will be funded in the future.
“No matter which numbers she chooses to cite, at the end of the day whether Senator Collins’s proposals are enacted or not, Mainers will be worse off.”
MECEP’s analysis comes as House Republicans throw cold water on the deal that Senator Susan Collins struck with Majority Leader McConnell in exchange for her vote on tax reform, jeopardizing the chances of the bills passing.
Maine Democratic Party Chair Phil Bartlett has called on Senator Collins to withdraw her support for the bill, which would give massive tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations at the expense of middle class Mainers, as well as add an estimated more than $1 trillion to the deficit.
MECEP’s complete blog post can be read HERE.
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