The council voted 7-2 to approve the idea on Monday after an occasionally contentious debate on the national health care act that took up large portions of councilors’ 5:30 p.m. workshop and their full council meeting at 7:30 p.m. Councilors Cary Weston and David Nealley opposed the proposed resolution.

Weston described the letter as well-meaning but inappropriate for the council and burdensome work for government staff. . .

Others supported the idea. Baldacci said that with Bangor-area hospitals projected to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars annually if the Affordable Care Act is repealed without replacement, the council has a legitimate stake in the issue. One projection sets $300 million as the likely loss to Maine hospitals if the act is repealed without replacement.

A draft of Heitmann’s letter, which is expected to be refined, cites how the act, since it was passed in 2010, has reduced the number of uninsured from 41 million to 29 million people nationwide. Under the act, 588,000 Mainers are eligible for preventative care without cost-sharing, while 8,000 others get coverage until age 26. More than 273,000 Mainers on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program also benefit from the program, Heitmann wrote. . .

“I think after a lot of ideological showboating, there’s no realistic replacement that’s going to be an improvement on it, and perhaps with enough pressure of this sort we can get down to the work of actually continuing the ACA and improving it,” Sheasgreen said, “and improving the health of our citizens.