AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. Paul LePage is blasting Republicans in Congress for not supporting House Speaker Paul Ryan’s bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking on Bangor station WVOM, LePage called for a state-chartered health insurer to make sure Mainers have access to coverage.
LePage says the failure of Congress to come up with a replacement for the ACA, known as Obamacare, could leave Mainers in the lurch, with no health insurer left in the state.
“We’re going to have to do what I am suggesting, is go to the Legislature and see if they won’t create an insurance company like we did with MEMIC and workers' comp.”
MEMIC is the Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company, set up in 1992 to provide workers' compensation insurance. LePage says he's considering a health insurance model similar to that.
But he offered no details about how the new health insurer would be set up or whether his plan has the Democratic support it would need to pass.
