Expand MaineCare for social justice

The connection between health care access and public safety has never been clearer. During this pandemic, many wealthy and privileged people were forced to see that their own safety depends on poor, underprivileged communities — a fact that was easier to ignore before COVID-19. COVID-19 has exposed how unjust and dysfunctional the public health system can be, and how unprepared it was for a catastrophe of this magnitude.

Immigrant communities are a barometer for public health inequity. Many in Maine avoid seeing a doctor when sick because it could put their family at risk for deportation, let alone for lack of insurance coverage. This is an injustice. Studies show that preventative care — i.e. access to health care before conditions become an emergency — is more cost effective and sustainable for the healthcare system. Expanding MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program, to everyone, especially essential workers, will enable the nation to reopen sooner, stronger, and more safely.

We can learn from public health’s failures and successes during this pandemic. When I got vaccinated it was free, for everyone, serving vulnerable individuals first without copays, run-arounds with insurance companies, or immigration status questions. This will continue until everyone is vaccinated and safe. This is what an equitable, functioning health care system looks like.

This is absolutely a racial justice issue. After a year of high-profile police brutality cases and civilian hate crimes against Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian people, many Americans are proclaiming that they stand with Black and Brown communities. With kids still in cages in the southwest, many are professing their solidarity with immigrants. In response to the #BLM movement, many people in power — lawmakers — want us to believe that Black lives matter to you. Many of Maine’s immigrants are from the Black-African community. You can prove your commitment to these communities by expanding MaineCare to them.

Mali Obomsawin

Lubec