Where I Stand

Maine is the first state in the nation where more than one-in-five people are over the age of 65. This demographic reality is only growing starker, especially in the rural parts of the state.

Social Security, Medicare, and federally supported Mainecare are lifelines for hundreds of thousands of people in Maine, and its is crucial that these programs are supported — not cut or reformed on the surface that would undermine their core functions. Most estimates suggest that, without reforms, the programs begin reducing benefits within the next 10 to 15 years, something we cannot allow to happen.

The solvency and effective functioning of vital public benefits like Social Security, Medicare, Older Americans Act Programs (such as Meals on Wheels), and Medicaid must also be protected while reducing costs and addressing the lofty prices of healthcare and prescription drugs.

It is also essential to meet people where they are by supporting innovative ways of delivering care – like telehealth – and by supporting cost effective in-home care programs like Home and Community-Based Services, and falls prevention activities.

What I've Done

• Supported the Inflation Reduction Act, which for Medicare beneficiaries has:

• • Capped the price of insulin at $35 a month.
  • Made preventive vaccines, like those for shingles, free.
  • Limited out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs at $2,000 a year.
  • Saved Medicare — and all taxpayers — hundreds of billions of dollars, by finally allowing Medicare to negotiate the price it pays for prescription drugs.

• Helped pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and American Rescue Plan which is expected to deliver more than $400 million to Maine for broadband deployment in the upcoming years, which should get close to allowing the entire population of our state to access telehealth within the next several years.
• Worked with my Senate colleagues to fund fall prevention efforts.
• Introduced legislation to let Medicare pay for home modifications that will prevent avoidable fall injuries.
• Cosponsored the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal Social Security’s windfall elimination provision (WEP) and government pension offset (GPO).  WEP and GPO unfairly reduce Social Security benefits for state and local government employees in Maine.