Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
I am supporting Graham Platner for U.S. Senate. One of the many issues that I agree with Graham on is the need to fix our broken health care system and his support for a Medicare for all type system.
I am a retired nurse and nurse educator. Since I started my career back in the early ’80s, I have watched our for-profit health care system become more and more broken. The Affordable Care Act only applied a bandage to a hemorrhaging system and now with Republicans in control it appears to be approaching total collapse.
My nursing colleagues regale me with stories of how bad working conditions have gotten. They are overworked and understaffed and burning out at alarming rates. Rural hospitals are hanging on by a thread with Northern Light Health reporting a $156 million loss in 2024 putting it on the road to insolvency.
On the other side of the coin, health care consumers are seeing their costs skyrocket while the care they receive becomes increasingly subpar. Two of my adult children are currently without insurance because they can’t afford the new premiums. Nearly a third of Mainers have over $5,000 in medical debt.
I believe Graham not only understands the health care crisis but knows that the only true solution is an efficient health care system designed for all. Vote for Graham Platner and help the U.S. have a functional health care system like every other developed nation on earth.
George Gartley
Presque Isle
