I did not realize something positive could come out of this pandemic until Laurel Libby and her lemonade-bearing volunteers showed up at my door and pointed out the impact the coronavirus has had on health care in Maine.

With expanded executive power, Gov. Janet Mills has loosened health care policies that discourage growth and drive up health care costs.

Libby promised she would fight to make temporary measures such as repealing the certificate of need preventing rural hospitals from growing, lowering the barriers for out-of-state providers to practice, and expanding telehealth measures permanent. If those regulations are good enough for an emergency, they are good enough outside of one, too.

I trust Laurel Libby to push for those bipartisan measures in Augusta, which is why I will be voting to elect her as state representative for District 64.

Let’s make lemonade out of lemons this November.

James Tracey, Auburn