Towns and cities around the state have passed resolutions urging the Maine Legislature to ensure comprehensive health care for every Maine resident.
The resolutions note that an equitable and comprehensive health plan for all would simplify our complicated and confusing system, greatly reduce administrative costs, and improve the quality of life for Maine residents. Maine AllCare volunteers and other supporters of health care for all have pursued, in most cases successfully, resolutions in their communities.
Maine AllCare’s resolution campaign began in 2020. It had been almost 20 years since a Maine city or town had expressed support for universal health care. In 2001, Portland voters approved an advisory referendum question, a resolution supporting the creation of a system of universal health care. That referendum question resolved “that healthcare is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity and that there is an obligation for society to ensure that every person be able to realize that right.” It passed, 52% in favor, 48% opposed.
Initially the resolution campaign focused on getting town councils and select boards to approve statements in support of health care for all. The municipalities of Bangor, Blue Hill, Brunswick, Orono, and Penobscot approved resolutions in 2020. The resolutions requested the Maine Legislature “to create an equitable health plan that provides every Maine resident with comprehensive medical care from birth to death.”
Click on the photo above to view State Representative Dan Ankeles explain why he introduced the town resolution in Brunswick.
Woolwich,Trenton, Bar Harbor, Brooksville, Surry, and Brooklin passed similar resolutions in 2021, and Brewer joined them in 2022. In Trenton and Woolwich the select boards choseto present the resolution as a warrant article that citizens votedon at their annual town meeting.
In 2023, Maine AllCare decided that these resolutions would send the state legislature a more powerful message if they were approved by a town’s voters and not just its council or select board. The town of Penobscot was selected as a test case for a citizens ballot initiative on universal health care.
David Jolly, a Penobscot resident and board member for Maine AllCare, presented the resolution to the town select board inspring 2023 and worked with the board and the town clerk to get the measure on the November ballot. For the first time, the resolution called on the Maine Legislature “to create a publicly funded health care plan that provides every Maine resident with comprehensive medical care.”
Maine AllCare hosted two public information sessions about the referendum in October. Residents asked questions and shared the challenges they face—as patients, family members and health care professionals—in getting access to care, navigating the complicated and confusing system, and affording both care and health insurance.
Jolly also handed out flyers and talked with fellow residents at the Penobscot transfer station on two October Saturdays. He noted that some people were skeptical about publicly fundedhealth care for all. But as they shared their experiences, and those of family, friends and neighbors, many seemed to talk themselves into supporting it. “They realized how broken the system is, and that we need to do better,” Jolly said.
The ballot initiative passed by a two to one margin.
In spring 2024, Maine AllCare volunteer Betsy Armstrong spearheaded a ballot initiative in Surry. The Surry resolution used the same wording as Penobscot’s, and it passed 58% to 42% at the town’s June election.
That summer MAC volunteers Phil Bailey and Valerie Dornan launched a similar effort in Hancock, but one that took considerably longer. There the town select board voted not to put the resolution on the town ballot. Fortunately, Maine law provides an alternative route to getting a resolution before town voters – a citizens petition. If residents can collect a number of signatures in support of a resolution equal to 10% of the turnout in the last gubernatorial election, then the town council or select board must put the resolution up for a vote, though the council or board can decide whether it will be on an election ballot or as a warrant article at a town meeting. Bailey and Dornan collected the requisite signatures, and the Hancock select board chose to present the resolution as a warrant article at the annual town meeting in May 2025. After Bailey gave a brief explanation of the resolution, Hancock residents voted nearly unanimously to approve it, with even members of the select board who initially opposed putting the resolution on the ballot voting in favor.
Maine AllCare hopes that supporters will step forward to launch ballot initiatives in other towns. To facilitate these initiatives, we have put together a citizens initiative toolkit containing a description of the process as well as materials (e.g., flyers, handouts, and news releases) developed for the Penobscot campaign that can be easily adapted for use in other towns.
Would you like to explore the possibility of a citizens ballot initiative in your town? For more information and assistance, contact info@maineallcare.org.
View the town resolutions at the links below.
Penobscot Ballot Initiative November 2023
Brewer Resolution January 2022
Woolwich Resolution August 2021
Trenton Resolution May 2021
Bar Harbor Resolution April 2021
Brooksville Resolve March 2021
Surry Resolution March 2021
Brooklin Resolve January 2021
Orono Resolve October 2020
Brunswick Resolve August 2020
Penobscot Resolve March 2020
Bangor Resolve February 2020
Blue Hill Resolve February 2020