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Meredyth Waters is a recent graduate of the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She now works as a community organizer in Brewer.
It isn’t until you see the streetlights turn on, that you remember they’re on a timer. It isn’t until you need to move, that your car feels so small. And it is not until you need to see a doctor in Bangor that you realize how badly our health care system is failing. It cannot be a privilege of the “healthy” to live in this community that I love.
This month, I have been navigating the local health care system. Really, this started in late February when I got a concussion on a class trip. Since I was a senior at the University of Maine, I was able to be diagnosed and receive follow-up care from the on-campus health clinic.
I have since graduated and found a great job that allows me to stay in the Bangor area and keep the community I love.
However, I haven’t fully recovered. I have a tender warm spot on the back of my head from where I fell, and recently symptoms such as headaches, nausea and confusion have come back with a vengeance. I am incredibly concerned for my health and wellbeing.
After eight calls and two waitlists I cannot get into a primary care provider (PCP). I have no PCP because I have not been able to find one to take me after I aged out of my pediatrician and graduated from UMaine. I then called every neurologist from Bangor to Augusta that takes my insurance, none of which would see me without a referral. I went to walk-in clinics, which couldn’t provide that referral. In a desperate attempt to get better, my pediatrician saw me and gave me a referral to a neurologist.
That endless cycle of hope and defeat led me to this point. Recently, I called Northern Light Neurology, where my referral was sent, and was told that I can expect to be notified by mail in about six months if I can even book an appointment there.
At this point, I do not care whose fault this is, but I feel greed is to blame. The closing of rural hospitals and providers, the lack of medical education in Maine, the lack of affordable paths to becoming a doctor, the lack of incentive for neurologists to practice here, it’s all money. I am appalled and disgusted at how I can link all of it back to greed.
However, I need to have hope, because it is all we have right now. I hope that the few who hold elected office and the few who are running for it read this and feel my urgency. I hope we can pass meaningful health care policy in Maine that allows for more providers to thrive here.
Frankly, we are wasting so much money letting people become poor and disabled from this broken system, that it’s hard to believe there is any cost too high to fix it. If the cost is truly unbearable for Maine, then it’s time we fairly tax the wealthy people moving to our coasts.
I want to live here, but I also do not want to die early here. I think I will be fine, but what if I am not, what about all the people who tomorrow will become a victim of Maine’s health care “system”? We need change now.
