Health care in Maine shouldn’t be this hard. What we need seems so simple: coverage we can afford and high-quality care close to home. But the system we’ve built is anything but simple, and everyone has someone else to blame. National reform is a must, there is no silver bullet, and states can’t wait.

As a nurse and retired hospital administrator, I’ve watched many reform efforts. Real change takes a leader who understands the political system from the inside out — someone who can get the right people in the room and insist they work together until solutions emerge. I believe that leader is Hannah Pingree.

Hannah knows that every Mainer needs the security of affordable coverage and has proposed a public option health plan. She also knows health insurance coverage is meaningless if there’s no maternity care within reach, no primary care appointments available or no mental health providers taking patients. And she understands that health is shaped by more than medicine — it’s housing, food security and safe communities free from environmental toxins.

Election season brings endless promises, but Hannah can do more — she can deliver. A lifelong Mainer, she knows us, and she has 25 years of experience getting things done — as a school board member, legislator, speaker of the House and director of the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. Hannah Pingree knows how to listen, bring people together and solve problems. I trust her to be our next governor.

Lois Skillings, RN 
Brunswick