Real Effects of Rate Hike Law Even Worse

A report released today by Consumers for Affordable Health Care provides even more evidence showing that the health insurance rate hike bill passed last session has had a devastating effect on Maine small businesses, with 90% of business owners who renewed their plans experiencing increases in their premiums, including more than 96% of businesses in eastern, northern and western Maine.

On Wednesday, local members of the Maine Small Business Coalition released a report prepared by Americans for Tax Fairness on how Maine could benefit from ending the Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest top two percent. They also delivered a letter signed by more than 120 small businesses across Maine urging Senators Snowe and Collins to vote in favor of ending the tax breaks when the issue again comes before Congress later this year.

Attack Ads in Senate Race Just the Beginning

The Maine Small Business Coalition today objected to the first attack ads launched by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a Maine 2012 election campaign.

"The U.S. Chamber does not speak for Maine businesses and they don't care about our economy," said Maine Small Business Coalition director Kevin Simowitz. "The Chamber is an interest group for large out-of-state and multinational corporations, especially health insurance companies."

Last year, Republicans in the legislature passed Public Law 90, a massive deregulation of Maine's insurance industry that more than 1,200 members of the Maine Small Business Coalition took action to oppose.