Protecting Maine People from the Harmful Impacts of Medical Debt

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

You know, I'll never forget one bitter, cold morning when I was a little girl and my father took me out to deliver newspapers along Main Street in Farmington. He told me he had defended a man with a broken arm who had been threatened with jail because he couldn't pay a medical bill. Nowadays, debt collectors cannot threaten you with jail time for not paying a debt to the hospital or medical provider. Still, no one should be worried about losing their home or have their wages garnished because they might have had an accident or gotten sick.

And yet, according to Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care, nearly half of all Maine households incurred medical debt in the last two years, and one out of three people reported that medical debt hurt their ability to pay for basic necessities like food and heat. We've got to do a lot more to bring down the cost of health care in this country -- but in Maine, we're not waiting for the federal government to act.

I've worked hard at the state level to expand affordable health coverage in Maine. On my first day in office, I expanded Medicaid, and as a result, nearly 230,000 Maine people, all told, have gained access to health care, including preventative care like cancer screenings, substance use treatment, and mental health services.

Recently, I was proud to announce that we're taking more steps to protect Maine people and make sure that an illness or accident doesn't cost someone their home or their livelihood. I signed legislation to protect Maine people by prohibiting medical debt collectors from placing a lien on somebody's home or taking their wages -- a bill that was sponsored by Senator Donna Bailey of Saco. She herself is a cancer survivor who has championed efforts to safeguard Maine people from the harmful impacts of medical debt.

This new law builds on an earlier law that I signed, which was also sponsored by Senator Donna Bailey -- and that law prohibited medical debt from appearing on consumer credit reports, helping protect Mainers' credit scores and their financial stability.

I agree with Senator Bailey when she said, "medical debt is not the result of poor choices. It's the result of illness, injury that can happen to anyone and a health care system that too often leaves people financially vulnerable."

Look, it's high time for the federal government to take its head out of the sand and address the crisis of health care head-on. Universal health care is an idea whose time has come. Meanwhile, until they get their act together, we in Maine are taking steps to protect Maine people and to make sure that an illness or accident doesn't cost someone their home or their livelihood.

It's the right thing to do.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.