In the February edition of the journal Family Medicine, the following data was reported: “In the 22 states that opted not to expand Medicaid … it is estimated that 7,115 to 17,104 unnecessary deaths can be attributed to the lack of Medicaid expansion.”
This is truly not a surprise to me as a health care provider. It saddens me greatly to see the citizens of our state suffer unnecessarily as a result of a lack of health insurance.
In the family medicine practice for underserved patients where I work and teach residents and students, I witness the validity of this data on an ongoing basis. I believe that we, the people of Maine, need to be a lot more vocal about saving the lives of our own co-workers, neighbors, patients, friends and family. These are the people referred to above whose deaths could have been avoided.
I ask you to join me and many others in health care to advocate for a change in position by our governor. If we choose to be silent, we are part of the problem, not the solution.
Deborah Taylor
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.