Portland, Maine – MaineHealth today issued a strong warning that LD 2196, currently under consideration by the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, would have devastating consequences for health care access across the state.
While MaineHealth agrees that health care affordability is a serious and growing concern, the organization cautions that LD 2196’s arbitrary rate cuts and cost growth caps would not lower costs in a sustainable way. Instead, they would destabilize hospitals, eliminate thousands of jobs, and put critical services—including Maine’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and highest-level neonatal intensive care—at risk.
“This bill assumes hospitals are operating with excessive margins that can simply be cut without consequences,” said Dr. Andy Mueller, CEO of MaineHealth. “That is not the reality. The scale of reductions contemplated in LD 2196 would force us to dismantle essential services that Maine people depend on every day.”
8,000 Jobs at Risk
If enacted, LD 2196 would result in more than $627 million in cuts to MaineHealth. The system projects it would be forced to eliminate approximately one-third of its workforce—more than 8,000 jobs across the state.
These would not be limited to administrative roles. Clinical positions, including physicians, nurses, technicians, therapists, and other frontline caregivers, would be affected.
Threat to Trauma and Neonatal Intensive Care
Among the most serious consequences would be the inability to sustain Maine’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and the state’s highest level neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Level 1 trauma designation represents the highest standard of emergency and surgical care, requiring 24/7 availability of specialized surgeons, advanced technology and significant financial investment. The NICU at MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children's provides the most advanced care for critically ill and premature infants in Maine.
If these services cannot be sustained, the sickest trauma patients and the most fragile newborns would be transferred out of state for lifesaving care—creating dangerous delays and emotional and financial strain for families.
“Maine has no redundancy in these services,” Mueller said. “If we lose them, there is nowhere else in Maine for patients to go.
Community Hospitals and Essential Services at Risk
LD 2196 would also destabilize community and critical access hospitals that rely on system-wide support to remain viable. Hospitals that already operate on razor-thin or negative margins would face service reductions or potential closure.
Programs that operate at a loss but are essential to MaineHealth’s mission—including behavioral health services, nephrology, oncology, and primary care—would be at serious risk as well. Medical education programs that train physicians, nurses, and other clinicians could be scaled back, worsening workforce shortages across the state.
Costs Driven by Workforce and Demographics
MaineHealth emphasized that hospital cost growth in recent years has been driven primarily by workforce expenses and broader economic forces—not excess profit.
MaineHealth has taken steps to contain costs internally, reducing expenses by $250 million over the past three years and holding administrative cost growth flat for fiscal year 2027. Even so, the system recorded negative operating margins in two of the last four years and relied in part on one-time federal relief funds following the pandemic.
MaineHealth reiterated its commitment to collaborating with lawmakers, employers, insurers, and other stakeholders to address affordability in ways that preserve access to care.
“We agree that health care must be more affordable,” Mueller said. “But lowering costs cannot come at the expense of access to lifesaving services. Maine is one big, small state. We can and should work together on solutions that protect both affordability and care for our communities.”
Note to reporters and editors: A press kit including a fact sheet, testimony from patients, business owners and MaineHealth leaders opposing LD 2196 is available for download here: https://assets.mainehealth.org/share/C12A5B70-6D43-48A7-9ADE2B2DAC21AAC5/
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About MaineHealth
MaineHealth is a not-for-profit, integrated health system whose vision is, “Working together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” and is committed to a mission of providing high-quality affordable care, educating tomorrow's caregivers and researching better ways to provide care. MaineHealth includes a Level 1 trauma medical center, eight additional licensed hospitals, comprehensive pediatric care services, an extensive behavioral health care network, diagnostic services as well as home health, hospice and senior care services. With more than 2,000 employed providers and approximately 23,000 care team members, MaineHealth provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. MaineHealth hospitals include MaineHealth Behavioral Health at Spring Harbor in Westbrook, MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington, MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, Biddeford and Sanford, MaineHealth Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport, MaineHealth Stephens Hospital in Norway and MaineHealth Waldo Hospital in Belfast. MaineHealth also includes the MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, MaineHealth Behavioral Health in Westbrook, MaineHealth Home Health and Hospice in Saco, the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, the MaineHealth Medical Group and MaineHealth NoDx in Scarborough. MaineHealth affiliates include Maine General Health in Augusta and Waterville. It is also a significant stakeholder in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization in Portland and a joint venture partner in the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland.