Letter to the editor – Portland Press Herald – September 4, 2026
Dr. Daniel Bryant, chair of Maine AllCare’s Legislative and Policy Committee, explains why we need a dedicated, ongoing, nonpartisan group focused on healthcare in Maine:
The recent discussion about the closure of the Lincoln Hospital Family Birth Center raises a larger question: How, in general, should Maine make healthcare policy decisions?
On Aug. 27, the Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee took up the labor and delivery services issue. Testifiers offered many ideas: delay the decision, invest in rural maternity care, increase financial incentives for professionals, train more family doctors in obstetrics, increase the number of midwives, pay hospitals for delivery readiness, improve maternal transportation and expand prenatal and postpartum care. Meeting notes filled more than 300 pages.
As worthy of pursuit as these ideas are, they are being considered by legislators who are not trained in health policy, are simultaneously addressing other pressing issues, may not have time to anticipate broader effects of their recommendations and some of whom may not even be in office in four months. A dedicated, ongoing, nonpartisan group focused on healthcare in the state would be a better forum for addressing healthcare issues, including this one.
As it happens, such a group is being discussed — from two directions. Several legislators are working to amend a 2021 public law so that the universal healthcare board described in it could finally be appointed and begin reviewing the entire system. And the citizen-led Health Care for All Maine is pursuing a resolution to create a publicly funded healthcare system that would likewise coordinate the system’s components.
Either of these approaches would be a more sensible way to manage healthcare policy than what we have now.
Daniel Bryant
Cape Elizabeth