I support of LD 199, “An Act to Improve the Health of Maine Residents by Removing Exclusions to the MaineCare Program.”

This bill would ensure that all Mainers can access MaineCare regardless of their citizenship status.

I speak as someone who has benefited personally from expanded MaineCare coverage. Before I qualified for MaineCare I was either uninsured or covered by high-deductible plans that made it prohibitively expensive to access health care.

This changed after Maine voters approved an expansion of MaineCare coverage to more people, which was finally implemented in 2019.

Since enrolling in MaineCare, I have been able to address several chronic physical issues that greatly limited my ability to work and to contribute to my community. I am now able to do more than I have in many years, which is a direct result of the regular care that I’m able to access.

I want all my friends and neighbors — including those who are immigrants — to have this same opportunity. We all pay taxes and we should all be able to benefit from the programs those taxes support. Ensuring that all income-qualifying Mainers can access MaineCare will allow others in similar situations to my own to access the health care they need to help them reach their full potential.

I urge the members of the Health and Human Services committee to advance this bill, and I encourage our state legislators to support it when it comes to the floor.

Scott Harriman, Lewiston