The healthcare professionals I know went into their profession to help people. They dedicate themselves to helping people overcome their health issues and stay healthy. Clearly Lincoln County Healthcare agrees. It is their mission "To Ensure Access to High Quality Patient-centered and Affordable Health Care." From my discussions with President and CEO Jim Donovan and members of the management team I know they take quality and affordability seriously, and have set their sights on doing so by keeping communities healthy.

Healthy Maine Partnership organizations, such as Healthy Lincoln County, work to inform and involve people in healthier living habits' such as quitting smoking, getting exercise, and eating healthier. Spectrum Generations (the Central Maine Agency on Aging) works to engage, inform and help our growing older population to live healthy and vibrant lives. Many of us benefit from the work of groups like these in our communities.

Still, when people talk to me about health the most frequent concern is not being able to afford health coverage for themselves or their family. Right now in Maine too many low and middle class families have nowhere to turn if they lose their coverage. From 2000 to 2009, the number of Maine children covered exclusively by their parents' employer's insurance decreased from 59 percent to 49 percent. Ten percent of Maine's people are currently uninsured. Far more have only catastrophic health insurance which they pay dearly for, but pay on top of that for their actual health care because the deductible is so high.

The Federal Affordable Care Act seeks to address this problem by setting up "exchanges." The exchange is the mechanism through which federal subsidies make premiums more affordable. A Maine exchange will guarantee individuals a secure place to go to get quality, competitively priced health plans if they lose their job or want to start their own business. Low and middle income families purchasing health insurance in the exchange will be eligible for subsidies, making health insurance within reach for thousands more Maine people. In addition, an exchange will provide small business with apples-to-apples comparisons of health benefit plans that will enable them to efficiently find the best coverage at the most affordable price. The exchange will be administered and overseen by knowledgeable Maine people who understand the particular challenges we face here, including many seasonal businesses where both business owners and employees struggle to cobble together continuous insurance coverage. And in 2014 the Exchange will make purchasing coverage for employees more affordable to businesses through a 50 percent tax credit.

Maine needs the real price advantage that a health insurance marketplace suiting Maine people (a Maine exchange) would create. If we fail to do it this year the Feds will step in and run one for us. If we wait too long we lose the federal planning grant for doing it ourselves. So what is the State of Maine doing to address the problem? The legislature is about to decide whether to share your priorities, or miss an opportunity for Maine to get a handle on health insurance costs.

We have been studying Maine's current infrastructure and what is needed in order to implement an exchange for the past 3 years. We know what needs to be done. We have a $5.8M federal planning grant that is paying for Maine to move forward with its own exchange. The legislature has LD 1498 - a bill that creates an exchange, consistent with the final federal regulations. We need to pass LD 1498. Maine people need a Maine health insurance marketplace.

The time to act is now.

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