In case you have been living under a rock, there was a major political battle in Washington, D.C. concerning the nation’s health care system.

A key issue central to the debate is over who is going to pay the bills.

And, in case your “under the rock” abode lacks a WiFi connection, our own Republican Sen. Susan Collins cast key votes that helped torpedo GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Her stand against GOP bills was based on her belief that they would harm many Maine residents by inflicting deep cuts to Medicaid and harm rural hospitals.

The soft-spoken Maine woman held her ground despite sharp criticism from the president and her Republican friends in Congress.

But here in Maine, one of the key players in our local and state health care system is her biggest fan.

He is Bill Caron, the big boss at Maine Health, the $2.4 billion umbrella organization that includes Maine Medical Center, and 11 community hospitals, including Lincoln Health, our local provider.

I caught up with Caron at a meeting last week where he explained the reasons Maine Health wants to modify the corporate and financial structure of their system.

I put the national health care debate question to him directly. “The proposals floating around Washington, D.C. all seem to involve sharp cuts in Medicaid. What would those cuts mean to Maine Health?”

“It’s a killer,” was his short answer. “Thank God for Susan Collins.”

Dr. Russ Mack, an anesthesiologist who serves as the chief medical officer for LincolnHealth, explains that the practice of medicine has changed. The days when our primary health care needs were provided by neighborhood docs, like Russ Griffin, John Andrews and Phil Gregory, and their nursing aides, are long gone. Today, most local physicians are employees of Lincoln Health.

Caron explained that hospital bills are paid from four sources: Medicare, Medicaid, private/employer provided health insurance and so called “self pay” patients, people who pay their hospital bill out of their own pockets.

LincolnHealth CEO Jim Donovan said Medicaid/Medicare provide two thirds of their annual revenue. In 2015, LincolnHealth collected more than $89.5 million from all sources. Two thirds of that is $60 million.

Slashing $60 million from Medicaid would put LincolnHealth, and by extension, the whole Maine Health system in peril, hospital officials said.

On top of that, under the law, all hospitals are required to provide care to everyone who walks into the door of the emergency department. That includes those who have insurance and those who do not have any insurance at all.

When Sen. Collins and several other Republicans voted against the Obamacare repeal, they effectively blocked GOP efforts to slash Medicaid, thus earning Caron’s praise.

But everyone was not as complimentary to Collins as Caron. Some of her toughest criticism came from the president and her own GOP congressional colleagues.

Texas GOP congressman Blake Farenthold, in a radio interview with a local radio station, said it was “absolutely repugnant” that Republicans hadn’t managed to repeal Obamacare and blamed the lapse on “some female senators from the Northeast.”

Of course, only one of three GOP women he mentioned was from the Northeast, Susan Collins. The other two women senators were from West Virginia and Alaska.

But Farenthold couldn’t stop there. He said that, if the dissenting senator was “a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr–style,” according to the Associated Press.

If you remember your high school American History class, in 1804, Burr, the vice president, shot and killed former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, in a duel.

Farenthold’s snarky remarks didn’t bother Sen. Collins. Last week, in remarks caught on an open CSPAN mike, she laughed it off. “Did you see who challenged me to a duel?” she said to another senator.

“I know. Trust me,” he responded. “You know why he challenged you to a duel? Because you could beat the s**t out of him.”

Collins shot back. “With a stick!” she added, laughing. “What a fat guy. He’s huge. He’s so unattractive, it’s unbelievable.”

Then she pulled out a verbal stick and hit back.  “Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this bunny, Playboy bunny?”

In 2009, at a fundraising costume party, Farenthold wearing blue fuzzy duck-print jammies posed for a photo with a smiling young woman wearing slinky fishnet skivvies. If you are interested, you can find it on the internet.

After the exchange between senators Collins and Lee went viral on the internet, a very cowed Farenthold issued a written apology.

Meanwhile, when Collins flew home into Bangor, she was greeted with a standing ovation as she walked through the terminal.