The two actions taken:

(1) Pertaining to sections 2,3, and 4 of the bill, implementing health insurance mandates for hospice and palliative care, the Committee listened to our request to work over the next few weeks with the HMO Council to come closer to an agreement on increased coverage for hospice and palliative care.

The insurers are very willing to discuss this, as well as how to increase access to hospice services. If the insurers agree to a plan of action outside the mandates in LD802, we can delete those sections from the bill, which would facilitate a quicker approval of the bill by the B&I Committee.

(2) The other sections of the bill have been referred to the Health and Human Services Committee for their review. They will return to the Banking and Insurance Committee sometime after April break with their recommendations on the bill.

As mentioned in previous emails, the next work session on LD 802 is coming up Wednesday, May 2, at 1:00 PM. It will be in the Banking and Insurance Committee Room (427, top floor of the State House)

We hope you can attend, or send someone from your organization, to show support for the bill.

We have very good news from the Health and Human Services Committee which last week voted both pieces of end-of-life care legislation "ought to pass as amended".

In a nutshell, this is what the Health and Human Services did, and what their report will state to the Banking and Insurance Committee for Wednesday:

(1) Medicaid Hospice Benefit: LD 1641 increases the Medicaid reimbursement for hospice services to the Medicare rate plus 23 percent (roughly $130/day).

We have been lobbying this bill along with LD 802. The H&HS Committee voted to move this bill forward and recommend to the B&I Committee that the Medicaid reimbursement language in LD 802 (Section 5) be deleted, so as not to duplicate efforts. That works fine for us, as long as both bills continue to move forward. We will monitor both bills carefully.

(2) LD 802's section 6,7,8 and 10 will be amended, per the various negotiations Citizens to Improve End-of-Life Care has been having with the involved organizations and agencies. Final language will be distributed at the work session on Wednesday. The Center of End-of-Life Care, the research into educational credits, the research from the Maine Health Data Organization and the appropriations to Maine Volunteer Hospice Groups were all approved, with modified, amended language. It was voted, upon our recommendation, that Section 9, the Health & Human Services Study, be rolled into Section 6 and carried out under the direction of the new Center for End-of-Life Care. The Committee agreed with that also.

B&I will take H&HS's recommendations under advisement, as well as address sections 2,3 and 4 of LD 802, which are the mandated health insurance coverages for hospice and palliative care.

Please keep your lobbying efforts to the members of the Banking and Insurance Committee on-going.

A phone call or email between now and Wednesday would be most helpful.

Even a short "please accept the recommendations of the Health and Human Services Committee on LD 802" would be enough. The Committee members are again, FYI, listed below.

Dear          :

I am writing you in strong support of LD 802: An Act to Improve End-of-Life Care in the State. Whether people in Maine voted yes or no on last year's physician-assisted suicide referendum, the overall message was clear: our state must improve end-of-life care. This bill is a result of that need, with both sides of the referendum now working together on this crucial issue.

Every section of the bill is vital to improving how the terminally ill are treated in our state. If we don't pass this bill this session, Maine will continue to falter in the areas of palliative care, hospice services, and pain management. We need to catch up with the rest of the nation and serve our people better.

Access to effective palliative care and hospice services must be made available to all Maine citizens who require it. Health insurance and Medicaid must cover those services. In addition, since hospice and home care, the cornerstones of end-of-life care, are much more cost efficient than hospital care, we believe the state will save money by implementing LD 802. The current Medicaid hospice benefit just instituted by DHS does not cover the expenses of palliative care and hospice. LD 802 is needed to fill that gap.

Thank you very much for your consideration of this issue. Compassionate control of pain and suffering is more than yet another bill; it is a human right. Please help guarantee it for all our citizens.

The House and Senate, in legislative action Thursday and Friday, placed both bills in the State's Part I budget (we had previously been in the Part II budget only). It was a wonderful strategic move which put us immediately on the front lines.

Language was added to LD 802 which reinstated the mandated health insurance coverage for hospice services and added funding for the Center for End-of-Life Care and the study to be conducted by the Dept. of Professional and Financial Regulation. It committed to the $50,000 appropriation to Maine's volunteer hospice organizations. And LD 1641 mandates an increase in Medicaid hospice funding, beginning October 1 of this year, to 23 percent over the Medicare rate.

I will follow up with the exact statutory wording and plans for the future, especially in terms of the implementation of the legislation. We are contemplating a press conference and letters to the editor/op-ed writing spree, and I will keep you informed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you so very, very much.

Edie Smith Phone (207) 377-9077 Email Nateandezrasmom@aol.com