Maine legislators are making decisions about severe cuts in MaineCare’s contribution to the health care industry in Maine, with a deadline of the end of January. It is unfortunate that there has not been time or opportunity to have more of a public conversation or a deeper look into the wider implication of the effect of those cuts.

In the Oxford Hills area of Maine, the health care industry touches an extensive network of citizens, not only those being served, but those in the system who provide the services.

There is no easy answer to budget shortfalls, but harsh and hasty measures are going to put an entire industry at risk.

In this section of the Oxford Hills alone, health care facilities employ hundreds of individuals to provide services for MaineCare recipients.

Consider the employees of Western Maine Health, which includes Stephens Memorial Hospital, Market Square Health Center, Oxford Hills Internal Medicine, Pace Paramedic Service; consider Norway Rehabilitation and Living Center, Oxford Hills Family Practice, The Progress Center in Norway; Tri-County Mental Health in Oxford; Ledgeview Rehabilitation and Living Center in West Paris; private medical practices and health services; and various licensed group homes.

With fewer patients subsidized by MaineCare, and reduced services being offered (both as a result of fewer patients, and certain services simply being cut) medical facilities, and the networks that support them, would dwindle and disappear.

Critical, life-altering services could be erased or severely limited, and countless jobs lost for Maine taxpayers. We all lose.

Kathleen Richardson, Paris