Press Releases
As ACA open enrollment approaches, advocates call on Congress ensure affordable healthcare for Mainers
October 30, 2025
In the face of severe Republican budget cuts to healthcare funding, Maine small business owners, health care consumers and advocates spoke on the need to keep health coverage affordable.
Maine health care advocates, small business owners and Mainers who have insurance through the ACA marketplace and stand to see their premiums rise dramatically held a press conference on Thursday morning in front of Sen. Susan Collins’ district office building in downtown Portland.
The speakers called on the four members of Maine’s congressional delegation to work to bring back funding for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act tax credits that make it possible for many Americans to afford insurance.
Chena Immel (she/they), of South Portland, said she’s been struggling to afford health insurance for the past nine years because she has a health condition that makes it impossible to work full time. “I can barely afford insurance through the ACA marketplace even with the tax credits that the government put in place during the pandemic – it’s only with the help of my family that I’m getting all my bills paid. Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I’m scared.”
As the Nov. 1 start of the ACA open enrollment period approaches, the impacts of the cuts are becoming even clearer. The 71,000 people who get their insurance on the ACA marketplace in Maine (coverME.gov) will see their premiums increase an average of nearly 24% (4% higher than the national average). Families with low incomes will be hit hardest and could see their insurance premiums up by more than 500%. But they’re not the only ones – costs will rise for the vast majority of people who get health insurance on the marketplace.
John Costin (he/him), the owner of Veneer Services Unlimited in Sanford, said his family and his employees are both worried about rising costs and losing coverage. “My wife is 63 and recently retired. But instead of relaxing, she’s facing the possibility of going without health insurance for 15 months, until she can get on Medicare. Why? Because without the ACA subsidies that Congress has let expire, we’re looking at spending more than $25,000 in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. That is not doable. At least we’re close to Medicare – I have a 33-year-old employee who’s facing the same thing, but [is] more than two decades away from [qualifying for] Medicare.”
Dr. Patrick Connolly (he/him), a physician based in Portland, said his 27-year-old daughter recently became too old to be covered under his insurance and works as a bartender, making too little to afford health insurance. “She’d been sick for a few months, had stomach problems but was afraid to go to the doctor because she didn’t have health care insurance. She got to the point where she was doubled over in pain, retching in the toilet for four hours straight. Her boyfriend dragged her to the emergency room. She has advanced liver cancer. Now, seeing the doctor sooner would not have made that any better necessarily, but she would not have suffered. That barrier to health care makes people suffer, they have worse health care outcomes, and they’re going to die.”
Cathy Rasco (she/her), the owner of Arabica Coffee Roasters in Portland, said she’s also concerned about how she and her employees will be able to afford health insurance. “I do not understand why the Republican party is so opposed to small business owners and many others accessing affordable health insurance. It has been their mission to repeal [the ACA] and now they have accomplished this goal by not funding it.”
Republicans in Congress made the decision to brutally cut the programs that give so many of us access to health care, and end tax credits that have helped millions of Americans finally afford health insurance. More than 57,000 Mainers will likely lose coverage as a result of these cuts.
The speakers urged Maine’s congressional leaders to take action before the situation becomes worse. Immel said, “Congress needs to fix the disaster they’ve created. I’m asking Sen. Susan Collins and the other members of Maine’s congressional delegation to fight to reinstate full funding for Medicaid and the ACA, and end the shutdown. And when they come back into session, we need our Congress to extend the ACA tax credits, restore Medicaid funding, and make sure our rural hospitals stay open.”
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With more than 32,000 members, MPA is the largest community organization in Maine, and one of the largest in the country. We work together on issues that include but are not limited to housing, care, climate change and environmental justice, health care access, racial justice, and immigrant rights.
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Contact: Nora Flaherty-Stanford, (207) 370-8314, [email protected]