What They’re Saying: Maine Democrats, Advocates Criticize Collins, “Warn [of] Health Care Increases” [Maine Morning Star]

Augusta, Maine - In case you missed it, Mainers are calling out how "Susan Collins has let us down," by refusing to act and voting against legislation to protect Mainers' health care and costs.

Collins has voted numerous times against a bill that would have saved health care for more than 50,000 Mainers who are at risk of seeing their insurance premiums skyrocket when enhanced premium ACA tax credits expire. Reporting has pointed out Susan Collins "has yet to sponsor" any legislative move to extend the tax credits.

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Maine Morning Star: As Congress deadlocks, Maine Democrats, advocates warn health care increases 'not an abstract issue'
By Eesha Pendharkar
October 10, 2025

• As the federal government shutdown entered its ninth day with no end in sight, advocacy groups and the Maine Democratic Party are criticizing Republican U.S. Sen Susan Collins while raising concerns about what they see as an urgent need to address rising health care costs.

• "This is real. This is happening to all of us: middle income, working class individuals," said Maine Rep. Anne Graham (D-North Yarmouth), a retired pediatric nurse practitioner who spoke at a press conference Thursday alongside other party leaders who warned that tens of thousands of Mainers will face skyrocketing insurance premiums if Congress does not take immediate action.

• "This is going to hurt us all, and Susan Collins has let us down consistently," Graham said.

• That issue is at the heart of the shutdown, with congressional Democrats asking for a short-term funding plan that also extends tax credits that lower the cost of health insurance for people who buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Republicans, including Collins, are refusing to include that subsidy in the stopgap bill needed to reopen government.

• Devon Murphy-Anderson, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, highlighted the financial strain that Mainers are already facing and accused Collins and her Republican colleagues of exacerbating the crisis by failing to extend the tax credits.

• Of the 61,000 Mainers who enroll through CoverME.gov, the state's online marketplace, 85% rely on premium tax credits to reduce their monthly costs. If they expire, some families could see their premiums increase by as much as 117%, with some paying over $900 more per month, the administration of Gov. Janet Mills has warned.

• Maine Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook), who chairs the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, echoed these concerns, emphasizing that the loss of tax credits would disproportionately impact working families, small businesses, and rural communities. People in Aroostook and Washington counties are facing premiums increases over 70%, he said. Across the board, Mainers will need to come up with $88 million a year to absorb these costs, Gattine added.

• During the event, Graham shared examples of Maine families who would be devastated by the loss of tax credits, including a Fort Kent couple in their 60s whose premiums would jump from $7,200 to $25,000 a year.

• She said she has reached out to Collins directly about the pressing need to act on these health care issues. Graham said the senator "appears to be responsive, but then votes against all the things that we really care about in the state of Maine."

• Megan Smith, a community organizer for Maine People's Alliance, a statewide progressive community action organization, joined volunteers outside the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor on Wednesday to speak with patients about concerns they have with the impending cost increases.

• In rural Maine, where hospitals are struggling, Smith said she heard from several people who are already waiting up to six months for appointments with specialists.

• "If these offices close, these hospitals close, that means these people are going to have to drive hours for health care," she said. "Losing the subsidies for the ACA is really scary to a lot of people, and even people who have insurance through their employers are scared that their rates are going to go up, as well."

• When Smith was a small business owner, she relied on marketplace health insurance herself, she said.

• "Those subsidies helped me for many, many years. And it just breaks my heart to even consider people not having access to that."

• Jim Lysen, the former executive director of Community Clinical Services, which operates the B-Street Health Center in Lewiston, canvassed outside its entrance on Wednesday, trying to learn how patients may be impacted by the expiring tax credits as well as pending cuts to MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program.

• "The system that I helped create is undone by MaineCare cuts," he said. "You're wiping out a lot of people's access to health care who won't be able to afford it."

• He said in his decades-long career, he had never seen such an acute attack on health care, especially impacting low and middle income people.

• "It's unprecedented," he said. "I've never seen it this bad."

• "Hospitals closing in rural areas is a bipartisan issue, it's not just a progressive issue," he said. "Because these hospitals in Maine serve lots of Republicans. So this is really a problem for all Mainers."

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