It has been said, in politics, there are two types of people, those who make the mess (Democrats) and those who shovel it up (Republicans).  It has also been written, by this columnist, that the bastion, the bulwark, the towering edifice to which the Democrats platform desperately clings is this basic premise; If the Party called Democrat makes a mess, blame the Party called Republican; When the Party called Republican cleans up said mess, then the Party called Democrat must seize every opportunity to take the credit for it.

This has been the challenge for Conservatives.  How do you take a message to the people when the message bearers, for the most part, will only carry the message for their own Party?  In many instances, those in the Media refuse to shine any light on issues for fear it may damage the credibility of their own Party.  This has left the Republican Party with limited options in hand to use to address the people.  It has become necessary for Conservatives to economize every opportunity to speak to the Nation making them aware of the catastrophic liberal policies that are being foisted upon the American people.

The media outlets have added a new facet to their limited access tactic to combat the fervor of the Republican Party and the citizens of the Country.  By only allowing the protest to be heard and not the solutions, they can attempt to caricaturize the Conservative movement as obstructionist without having solutions.  Thankfully, the readership and viewership of liberal media is nose-diving into oblivion, therefore, the effect has not proven to be as satisfactory as Democrats would like.

This column has been filled in much of its pages with railings against the wanton destruction of liberties, hopes and futures in this great State.  I want to couple now the exposing of evil with the ideas that will correct those evils.  So with the help of the many learned and experienced Conservative leaders and candidates from my readerships areas, we will embark on a journey, a journey of solutions.

Lets just dive in headlong.  That’s the way we do things at The Maine Conservative Voice.  Lets tackle healthcare.  How’s that for creating a fuss?  Like I don’t have enough angry “crittahs” buzzing around me all ready…right?!  I want to approach these issues from the perspective of the State of Maine.

Simply put, the State of Maine has some of the, if not the, highest healthcare costs in the Nation.  In a conversation with Mayor Paul Lepage, Republican Candidate for Governor, he mentioned that Etna Insurance has several policies that cover residents of the rest of the other forty-nine States but has only one policy that it can sell in Maine.  Why is that?  Representative Paul Davis and Senator Doug Smith answered my questions by explaining that there are two major contributing factors to the high cost of health insurance in Maine.

The first is a requirement called Guaranteed issue.  Guaranteed Issue demands that an insurer must provide health insurance to an individual no matter what the individual’s health circumstances or health history is.  This allows a previously uninsured person who suddenly finds himself dealing with an expensive health issue to purchase a health insurance policy.   This would be the equivalent of my losing control of my uninsured vehicle, wrapping it around a very immovable rock maple tree and then calling to purchase an auto insurance policy.  By the standards of our health insurance, they would have to insure my maple, impaled automobile.  So as you can imagine, these types of policies are high risk and demand high premiums.  Now before my dear friends, who keep sending me those adoring love notes on the svweekly website, start shouting that Conservatives are heartless and want to keep the terminally ill uninsured, Senator Doug Smith further expounded upon this problem by saying that Guaranteed Issue would not be so unpalatable to insurance companies if they were allowed to properly rate the policy to accommodate the risk.  The reason they cannot is the second major negative contributing factor.

This is called Community Rating.  The Community Rating requirement demands that insurance companies take the average of the ages of potential policyholders in the area.  The companies must charge one rate on the basis of that average.  As you can probably guess, the young and healthy don’t want to pay higher rates so the pool shrinks and the price skyrockets.

As usual, we are running out of space.   We will pick this up again next week with more depth and more interviews.  Special thanks to all who came out to shake hands at the Piscataquis Valley Fair and, to those who know who you are…I didn’t write Democratic Party once…well, now I did…sheesh.