MMA Legislative Committee Chair Stephen Meister, M.D. and Vice Chair Katherine Pope, M.D. welcome you to participate in the weekly conference calls of the MMA Legislative Committee.

The next MMA Legislative Committee weekly conference call for the Second Regular Session of the 128th Maine Legislature will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, February 23rd, at 8:00 p.m.

Legislative Committee members and specialty society legislative liaisons are strongly encouraged to participate. Any physician, practice manager, or other staff member who is interested in the MMA's legislative advocacy also is welcome to participate. It is not necessary to RSVP for the calls.

Please use the following conference call number and passcode. These will remain the same for every weekly call during the session.

Conference call number:  207-480-4790

Passcode:  057614#

The purpose of the weekly conference calls is to review and finalize the MMA's position on bills printed the previous week, to hear the views of specialty societies on the new bills or their concerns about any current health policy issues, and to discuss the highlights of legislative action of the week. The calls rarely last longer than an hour. The MMA staff lists a suggested position for each bill and any medical specialty particularly affected by the bill.  

If you have an opinion about any of these bills, but cannot participate in the call, please contact Andrew MacLean, Deputy EVP & General Counsel at amaclean@mainemed.com or 480-4187, or Peter Michaud, Associate General Counsel at pmichaud@mainemed.com or 480-4199.

The following are bills of interest to the physician community printed last week. We will discuss the priority bills marked with an asterisk (*) first. This will be important when the list grows in the next few weeks.

Following are the bills of the week:

LD 1792: An Act To Improve Market Stability for Maine Residents Purchasing Individual Health Insurance Coverage. Changes to Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association law.

We will also discuss some carryover bills that were discussed in 2017 but are now coming up for work session in committee.

*LD 1587: An Act To Provide Economic Security to Maine Families Through the Creation of a Paid Family Medical Leave System. MMA Position: Monitor.