Maine

Illinois gained headlines in 2005 for its first-in-the-nation plan to provide health care for all children in the state, called AllKids.  Pennsylvania followed suit in 2006 with its own Cover All Kids plan.  Now the Governors of each state have proposed comprehensive health care reform packages with the goal of universal access to health care.  The plans build on reforms in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, but go further in key areas of affordability and system reform.

Pharmaceutical companies spend $11.4 billion each year on marketing.  Much of that is spent on salespeople, known as "detailers", who visit doctor's offices to pitch the latest drugs, in order to increase prescriptions for their company's products-- usually at the expense of older, cheaper, and often more effective drugs. 

To the embarassment of a country with leaders that bill themselves as supporting "family values," a new report by the Project on Global Working Families finds that US federal policies are some of the least supportive of families in the world. 

Two years into Maine's DirigoChoice insurance program, designed to expand access to health insurance to Maine's uninsured individuals and small businesses, the state is grappling with how to fund the program. While the program's governing board recently voted to assess a controversial assessment paid by insurers and self-insured companies, a separate Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission has proposed alternative funding that relieves insurers of their responsibility to help fund the program. Instead of keeping insurers, hospitals, and large businesses at the table through "pay or play" or "fair share" initiatives and enhanced cost containment, the Commission wants to replace the insurer assessment with general fund revenue raised on the backs of consumers.