RUMFORD — Maine AllCare is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of volunteers dedicated to educating the Maine public about the ethical and economic benefits of a universal, state-wide health care plan.

The River Valley chapter is being developed to support the Maine AllCare goal of promoting universal, high-quality and affordable health care for the people of Maine. The first chapter meeting will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Rumford Public Library.

One of the driving forces of this group is that, even with the Affordable Care Act, 130,000 Maine people are still without health insurance and at least 200,000 Maine people are under-insured.

The United States spends more on health care annually but has poorer health care outcomes than most other Western nations. The U.S. ranks 40th in the world in infant mortality and 34th in life expectancy. Life expectancy in the U.S. is 79.8. Life expectancy in Canada is 82.5 and in Japan, 84.6.

A comparison of the U.S. and the Canadian health care systems finds that people in Canada do not go without health care because they cannot pay for it; many Americans do. Canadians do not die because they do not have health care insurance; Americans do. Canadians do not go bankrupt because of medical bills; many Americans do. More than 2,000 personal bankruptcies were filed in Maine in 2013. Based on available national data. It is estimated that 1,400 of those were due to medical bills.

These are some of the reasons that local folks are adding their efforts to those of Maine AllCare.

Maine AllCare is the state chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. Membership is open to all citizens. Everyone’s support is welcome.

Anyone interested in the local chapter may call Joe Sirois at 364-3913 or attend the meeting. The group will be joined at this meeting by Alice Knapp, Esq., one of the founding members of Maine AllCare, and by Dr. Henk Goorhuis, newest board member of Maine AllCare.