AUGUSTA — Hannah Pingree, former Speaker of the House and Democratic nominee for governor, submitted public comment to the Maine Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services for the special committee hearing in the wake of the recent MaineHealth decision impacting Lincoln County. Hannah had come out forcefully against the closure with the Miles Delivers Action Coalition and released her plan on how to approach an issue that will define Maine’s future.
Statement from Hannah Pingree:
“MaineHealth’s vote to close labor and delivery services at Miles Memorial Hospital is a devastating decision for families in Lincoln County. A safe place to deliver a baby close to home shouldn’t depend on luck or good weather — it should be something every Maine family can count on. This isn’t just a health care problem, it’s a safety issue for moms and babies and an economic issue for our rural communities. We’ve lost twelve birthing units in a decade, nine of them in just the past few years. It doesn’t have to be that way. Maine does not have to accept the loss of maternity care as inevitable — this is a policy choice, and we must make a different one.”
Read Hannah Pingree’s full public comment here.
