As a family physician, health advocate and legislator, I’ve appreciated how Gov. Mills, a Democrat, has dramatically advanced Maine’s health and vibrancy during tough times.

Mills administration leadership took us from arguably the most vulnerable to being among the best-performing states versus COVID-19. A year before the virus was discovered, she activated public health mechanisms (which the Legislature had created to slow the LePage administration’s naive gutting of public health infrastructure). She also assembled and resourced a dream team at Maine Department of Health and Human Services/Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

She fostered access to health care through expanded MaineCare eligibility (nearly 100,00 Mainers); oral health coverage (over 200,000), and equitable reproductive health care.

Her administration adopted a treatment-based approach to address the opioid epidemic, in line with best practices and bipartisan state policies. (The LePage administration, instead, had emphasized a failed law-enforcement approach, and Mainers continued to suffer.)

Maine’s best possible health outlook depends on reelecting Gov. Mills.

Sam Zager, M.D.
Democratic state representative
Portland

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