Too many Mainers are without health insurance. These are generally people who have jobs that don’t have health insurance and who can’t afford to buy insurance on their own, and they are one illness or accident away from disaster.

When people without health insurance get sick or when their kids get hurt, they are out of luck and face crippling medical costs. The combination of the poor economy and rising insurance costs has put an ever-increasing number of Mainers in this situation.

However, we can change this. We have the option of providing healthcare to over 50,000 uninsured Mainers by accepting federal funding available through the Affordable Care Act. We can get them access to a family doctor, regular preventive care visits and free them from the fear of being bankrupted by an illness or an accident. And we can do all this at no cost to ourselves.

For the first three years, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost for all newly eligible Mainers. After that the federal government will still pay a higher match rate than they currently pay for MaineCare. And we can choose to opt out of the program at any time.

If Maine does not accept it, the funding will go to other states. Maine is the only state in the northeast that has not yet agreed to accept federal funding.

The benefits will be felt first by the people, of course; the people who receive this access to healthcare. They can get a family doctor, their health outcomes will improve, and their chronic illnesses will be better managed.

However, they will not be the only ones to benefit. The people that employ them will see a lower absentee rate from work once their employees have insurance. And, starting in 2014, if their employers have at least 50 full time employees, it will help them avoid penalties for not providing health insurance subsidies.

Beyond the immediate recipients and their employers, this will be a great financial boon for all of us. It will bring more than $250 million into the state per year. This will create 3,100 jobs statewide and generate more than $16 million a year in state and local tax revenue.

Healthcare providers will have fewer charity care cases, and it will reduce cost-shifting to businesses and private purchasers of insurance. This will be especially important in rural areas where health care providers are major employers.

Right here in Lincoln County, for example, the largest employer is Lincoln County Healthcare, with over 1,200 full and part-time employees.

We have an opportunity here to make a lasting and significant improvement in the health of tens of thousands of Mainers and the economy of the whole state. It is the right thing to do, it will save us money, and it won’t cost us anything. We just need to take advantage of it.

Sen. Christopher Johnson lives in Somerville, and represents Maine Senate District 20