By Steven Haycock, Legislative Director
(207) 329-6835
It’s January in Maine, which means it’s cold and snowy and the Maine Legislature is returning to work. Officially opened on January 7, each party had dueling press conferences at the same time to lay out their priorities for the session. Why did they have dueling press conferences, because in 2026 in my humble opinion there are no “adults” leading the political parties. It worries me that politicians’ main goals are stopping the opposite party, even more so than advancing their own plans or agendas. It’s seeming to me a cultural shift, which applies to most legislative bodies, and Maine is by no means alone, Washington, D.C. is another prime example. How sad, and how far we’ve fallen from the days when the goal was to advance the common good, not stopping the opposition at all costs. We have great problems and issues in this State and Nation. I’m a firm believer that the best possible solution comes when the politicians of both parties work together to create common sense solutions. “We the People,” are much better off when the Republicans don’t get everything they want and when the Democrats don’t get everything they want. The best solutions are a combination of both ideas.
Using Google Gemini A.I. I asked it what the priorities for the coming Maine Legislative Session are and this was the response: Energy Costs & Affordability, Housing Reform, Budget Rebalancing (apparently they found and additional $250 Million to spend), Filling Federal Funding Gaps, Immigration Enforcement, Healthcare Workforce, Tribal Sovereignty, Environment and Industry Support. These all seem like reasonable areas to address. The question is will they be able to work together to accomplish some of these issues.
Healthcare Workforce seems very timely, although I couldn’t venture a clue on how to fix what is obvious Doctor shortage. Since returning to Maine, my previous Doctor’s office I had closed, when I called to get appointment with a doctor at local office, I was told it would be at least a 6-month wait. There were more than 8 practitioners at this office, I told them I didn’t really care which one I saw. I also explained that for me personally I was looking for mental health support, the polite receptionist told me that I would likely be an additional 12 months after my first appointment with my new doctor to be connected with mental health services. I’m reasonably young and healthy, so I will just have to cope. On the other side my mother, who has some minor ongoing health issues, was forced to change providers when her Medicare insurance changed. Her previous doctor was no longer accepted by the plan, and she went searching for a new doctor that took her plan, she called and asked for appointment, the next available appointment was in 2027!! She has medications that require refills etc., so that worries me. These are just two simple examples of pending healthcare crisis, without easy solutions. I’ve been trying to produce a resolution to address this but can’t come up with the “resolve” although I got about a 25 “Whereas” statements I could use. Any suggestions?