PORTLAND, Maine — Two Democrats hoping to be Maine’s next governor unveiled their plans Wednesday to make health care more affordable.
Former House Speaker Hannah Pingree and Dr. Nirav Shah, former head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, have both released their ideas for reforming the health care system.
At an event in Portland, Pingree said that she wants to create a new public option health care system in Maine.
“As I travel Maine, the costs that individuals and small businesses are facing are now untenable,” Pingree said. “Frankly, to shore up the system and ensure that more people don’t lose coverage, we need a lower cost option where the state is negotiating for essentially an insurance market plan for people.”
That would lower costs for consumers because it removes profit from the equation, Pingree said. She added that she could not estimate the cost of the program other than to say it would require some start-up funds.
“I view it as a stopgap,” Pingree said. “We need federal reform.”
Pingree said a state-run program is more important than ever because of the expiration of the enhanced federal tax credits that helped many people afford coverage. She said coverage for her family of four went from about $700 a month to over $2,000 when the credits expired.
In a press release, Shah released “Maine’s Affordable Health Care Future” which aims to address costs, insurance companies and workforce shortages.
“Health care in Maine is simply too expensive and too many families are paying more every year just to get less in return,” Shah said in a statement. “No one should have to worry about what happens if they get sick.”
Shah, who worked in senior leadership at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after his time in Maine, released a plan that proposes to cap insurance copays and deductibles, lower prescription drug prices and recruit more doctors to rural communities.
He also proposes to “make big insurance companies pay their fair share” and “expand and protect access to women’s health care.”
Pingree, who most recently served as head of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, is also proposing to incentivize and expand primary health care and maternity care. In addition, she wants to work with other governors to negotiate better prescription drug prices.
Pingree and Shah are among the Democrats who have expressed their intent to run in the June gubernatorial primary. Others include former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, businessman Angus King III and former FBI agent Jason Cherry.
On the Republican side, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles, real estate developer David Jones of Falmouth, healthcare tech executive Jonathan Bush, state Sen. Jim Libby, businessman Owen McCarthy, former Planet Fitness CEO Ben Midgley, Robert Wessels of Paris and former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason have all said they are running.
The final primary fields will be set in mid-March once candidates meet a signature gathering deadline.
Several independents have indicated they intend to run in the November election, including Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, Rep. Ed Crockett of Portland and retired state worker John Glowa of China.
Pingree said while reforms to the health care system cost money — and some federal funds will be available — she will make it a priority.
“I know the next governor will not have easy choices to make, but for me prioritizing health care will be very important because nothing else works if the population of Maine is not healthy,” said Pingree.