York Hospital has been a part of the York community for over 100 years. This recent announcement that it will be closing its birthing unit makes it the seventh to do so in Maine since 2015 and is indicative of both the inability to attract and retain workers, as well as a trend to consolidate services.

As someone who delivered both of my children at York Hospital, and whose family runs a local business, I understand firsthand the heartfelt impact this has on our community. As care becomes more consolidated and costs increase, this impacts the productivity of employees and drives up the cost of living. The domino here is that it also drives up the cost of doing business, further exacerbating an upward spiral in costs and a downward spiral in access.

This closure will not only force patients to travel to hospitals further and further from their homes but will raise costs due to the limited competition while not improving the quality of care. The result will be to pass these costs along to the consumer through higher premiums and less access means workers spend more time to access care and are less productive.

In a rural state like Maine, these small announcements have major impacts. I hope that providers and consumers can find a way to mitigate future consolidation for our physical health and for the health of our economy.

Rebecca Sacchetti
York

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