Health insurance is life or death for Elizabeth Hamblin’s family.

Her husband, Mark, has Type I diabetes. So do their two children. All three would die in a matter of days without a steady supply of insulin, she said.

Insurance has allowed them to pay the bills. But the price tag for care is expected to go up.

“I don’t know if I can afford to keep my family’s insurance,” Hamblin told Maine Superintendent of Insurance Bob Carey Friday morning. “But I can’t afford not to.”

The Buxton resident was one of nearly 40 people who spoke at the Maine Bureau of Insurance’s online public forum on the proposed rate increases that Carey has described as “eye-popping.” If his team approves the rates, the more than 110,000 Mainers who get health coverage through the individual and small-group employ

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