U.S. Representative Jared Golden is determined to expand healthcare for rural Mainers and Maine’s veterans. Maine’s unemployment rate is rising, right along with the rest of the country. The national unemployment rate has risen faster during the pandemic than during the two years of the Great Recession. Unemployment in the state jumped from 3.0% in May 2019 to 9.3% by May 2020. Counties in the 2nd Congressional District feel this national problem acutely with the highest unemployment rates in the state. Add to that 99,000 veterans relying on VA healthcare and Medicaid and the need is clear..
Following the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the availability of enrollment in health insurance exchanges in 2013 slashed the number of uninsured Americans—a notable 27.9% decrease in Maine. Following in 2017, Maine passed Question 2, the Medicaid Expansion initiative, the first state to vote for expansion through a citizen initiative. As of August 3, 2020, 59,797 people are currently enrolled in MaineCare through the expansion.
In his first term in Congress, incumbent Representative Jared Golden worked to expand healthcare coverage. His “healthcare roadmap” shows the path to a single-payer system, starting with protection for patients with pre-existing conditions (H.R. 986), maximizing Medicaid expansion (H.R. 584), lowering prescription drug costs (H.R. 1188, H.R. 478, H.R. 1046), Medicare buy-in for adults between the ages of 50 and 64 (H.R. 1346), and the Medicare for All Act. Mindful that many residents in ME-02 rely on rural hospitals to be their direct access to healthcare, Golden has introduced legislation to amend the Small Business Act to include critical hospitals, such as Calais Regional and Penobscot Valley, in the Paycheck Protection Program. H.R. 584, co-sponsored by Golden in March, would make Maine eligible for increased federal funding for Medicaid expansion.
ME-02 Republican nominee Dale Crafts is in line with President Trump, opposing the ACA and increased access to Medicaid. Crafts calls Maine the “second-largest welfare state in the nation.” Arguing for rollbacks of Medicaid and the ACA, even as Mainers vote for further expansions, his campaign website now touts his dedication to keeping Medicare on “sound fiscal footing.”
Protecting the high-risk veteran population in the pandemic is a priority for Golden, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He sponsored a bill to extend VA programs to include fertility treatments, counseling, and other family-related healthcare. Golden plans to continue to improve VA healthcare for senior veterans, and his support of Medicaid expansion and an eventual Medicare for All system would benefit veterans who are not eligible for VA benefits. Medicaid is a critical source of coverage for veterans, which provides all healthcare to 40% of non-senior veterans.
Medicaid is a critical source of coverage, especially for veterans. Of the non-elderly veterans who receive Medicaid, 40% get healthcare coverage through it alone. Though most veterans are eligible for VA coverage, for those who are not, Medicaid fills the gaps. Access to affordable healthcare helps in ways beyond merely medical care. Veterans are disproportionately affected by homelessness, which is often caused by unexpected and high medical expenses. Since the ACA Medicaid expansion came into effect, evictions have fallen, indicating that providing coverage to low-income Americans will keep them housed as well. Without continued support for expansion of healthcare coverage, vulnerable citizens, particularly in predominantly rural and working-class districts, will be increasingly at risk.
Written by Left of Center Maine Specialist Emma Plante.