Charles Morris is a primary care physician and chief medical officer of MaineHealth’s Southern Region, which includes MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, Biddeford and Sanford.

As a physician who recently moved to Maine from the Boston area, I came here because of the state’s reputation for providing high-quality health care to all its residents. Since arriving, it’s clear to me that Maine’s health care system is even stronger than I expected.

I’ve seen patients get expert specialty consultation from a physician hours away. I’ve witnessed clinical outcomes for procedures that rival the best hospitals in the country. I work in a primary care clinic with a strong team approach to complex patients that leaves me in awe even after 25 years as a doctor.

Unfortunately, that high-quality, accessible care for Maine people is now in grave danger. A bill before the Legislature, LD 2196, would dramatically cut hospital reimbursement in an effort to reduce insurance premiums. Passage of this bill would devastate Maine’s hospital system, which is already struggling.

As a practicing physician and leader, I see the financial strains that families face every day. Patients struggle to pay for medical care, food and housing. No family should have to choose between paying for health care and other basic necessities. I’m proud to work for a health system that supports care for all patients, regardless of their financial circumstances. Our uninsured patients receive the same care as those with the best insurance. Our system also supports rural hospitals that otherwise struggle to survive.

And we remain committed to services that consistently lose money — including behavioral health, primary care, trauma care, and neonatal intensive care — because they are essential to our communities. But we do all of this on a financial shoestring.

Many people do not realize how financially fragile Maine’s hospitals and health systems are. In fiscal year 2025, MaineHealth recorded just a 1.6% operating margin. Financial experts say nonprofit hospitals need at least 3% to remain sustainable. At the same time, we face hundreds of millions of dollars in unmet capital needs, while preparing for additional strain in 2027 from federal Medicaid cuts contained in the recent HR 1 law.

Given these realities, it is hard to understand how proponents of this bill believe Maine’s hospitals have more than $1 billion in excess revenue that could be removed without severely impacting patient care. Maine’s hospitals already have some of the lowest operating margins in the nation. Their median days of cash on hand — the measure of how long they could stay open without payment — is about nine days. Healthy hospitals typically have around 200.

Before moving to Maine, I practiced medicine in the Boston area, home to some of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. I am deeply moved by how committed Maine’s hospitals are to maintaining access to care in rural communities — often at significant financial cost. They are also deeply committed to supporting services that are not financially viable on their own. Now all that is threatened.

We agree that the status quo is unacceptable, and hospitals must be part of the solution. In fact, MaineHealth has reduced expenses by $250 million over the last three years. Our leadership teams have also been instructed to hold administrative cost growth to 0% in fiscal year 2027. As a result of these efforts, we have limited the increase in the prices we charge commercial insurers to 4.5% this year — far below the premium increases many patients are experiencing.

We are working to lower costs even as we prepare for the impact of those pending federal cuts to Medicaid and 2026 reductions in health insurance tax credits. Those changes are likely to increase the number of uninsured patients, many of whom will qualify for charity care that hospitals must absorb.

As a nation, we must look seriously at how to make health care more efficient and affordable. But the answer is not to fill federal funding gaps by gutting Maine’s hospitals. Trying to lower health care costs by dramatically cutting hospital funding is like trying to lower food prices by burning down farms. It may reduce costs on paper — but only at the expense of the services communities depend on.

I hope the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee recognizes the risks of LD 2196 and votes “ought not to pass” on this dangerous legislation.