Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.
Well, we know you can't have a healthy economy without healthy people. Every one of us during our lifetime will need health care, some more than others, at different times in their lives. That's what happened to Bethany Zell of Caribou. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer and Medicaid, or MaineCare in Maine, was the only health insurance she had access to. She was self-employed and it was way too expensive to add her to her husband's health insurance. And luckily, her cancer treatment has been fully covered through MaineCare since her diagnosis in 2023.
But that might not be the case anymore if the federal government moves forward with various proposed changes to the Medicaid program nationally.
As of January 2025, about 392,000 Maine people like Bethany had their health insurance through MaineCare, including more than 140,000 children. More than 80,000 people were covered under MaineCare expansion approved by the voters in 2017, which carries with it a 90% match by the federal government. That MaineCare coverage is especially important in rural counties, where health care coverage may not be affordable or accessible based on their unemployment rates and average household incomes. For example, about 40% of the entire populations of Aroostook County, Washington County and Somerset County rely on MaineCare for their health coverage.
In large part to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the United States House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make sweeping changes to Medicaid that will have devastating consequences. Fewer people will have access to health insurance, and as a consequence, they may well put off going to the doctor until it's too late. Hospitals, nursing homes, health care providers, especially in the rural counties, could end up taking on the cost of caring for people who don't have health insurance.
Our economy will suffer. Look, you can't have a healthy economy without healthy people. The proposed federal cuts will also endanger the lives of people who rely on MaineCare for treatment -- people like Bethany. She's got an MRI scheduled for her breast cancer in a few months. Now she worries about whether that appointment will be covered by her health insurance, MaineCare.
According to the American Cancer Society, one in every ten adults in the United States with a history of cancer relied on Medicaid for their health care in 2023. Look, they shouldn't have to worry that their lifesaving care is going to be cut in the federal budget.
The bill passed by the House of Representatives also shifts significant costs to states like Maine in a variety of ways. And on top of those proposed changes, the federal government has also proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act, on which many people rely. The bill would shorten our open enrollment period and make other changes, and make it very difficult to obtain that health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, which is what many people rely on who aren't eligible for MaineCare. We want everybody to be covered.
That bill would also make it more likely that self-employed or seasonally employed people would be hit by unexpected income tax bills. They'd lose the tax credit for their health care - thousands of dollars - because their income fluctuates. These unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles will have the effect of kicking an estimated 51,000 people in Maine off of their health care, including low income workers, older adults and children with special medical conditions.
Look, I spent a year before my husband, Stan, died fighting with the health insurance industry to make sure he got the care he needed. I know how devastating these changes will be for families across Maine. I will keep speaking up against them so they don't become law.
If you receive health care through MaineCare or CoverME.gov, which is the Affordable Care Act, I encourage you to contact Members of Congress to share with that coverage means to you. They need to hear your story.
You can't have a healthy economy without healthy people. I wish good health to all the people of Maine and fair health insurance coverage.
This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.