The Maine Legislature has passed a bill, "An Act To Protect Health Care Consumers from Catastrophic Debt," that prohibits a cap on annual or lifetime benefits in health insurance policies. The bill, LD 1620, passed 140-0 in the Maine House and concurrently in the Maine Senate.

The Act covers all individual and group health plans for Maine residents. The final version of the bill prohibits individual or group health plans covering Maine residents from including provisions terminating payment of further claims after a defined maximum dollar amount of health care claims has been paid, on the basis of an annual or lifetime cap. If signed into law, the act takes effect January 1, 2011.

There are some exceptions to the prohibitions for certain specific types of health coverage plans, such as a plan with an annual or lifetime maximum aggregate benefit limit of less than $1,000,000 or a plan designed for an employee who works on a part-time, temporary or seasonal basis or designed as short-term coverage for an employee who is fulfilling a waiting period for coverage under another employer-sponsored benefit plan. The bill requires a health care plan that is issued after the effective date of the provision to include disclosure of a permitted limit of coverage.

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