News & Events / Legislative Committee Meeting Review and Committee Lists
Legislative Committee Meeting Review and Committee Lists
We had an incredible MMA/MOA Legislative Committee Kick-Off meeting last Thursday with over 35 people in the room and 25 people on Zoom! My favorite parts of the meeting were tied between the presentation from Representative Sam Zager, MD, about the 132nd Legislature and hearing all about the various specialty groups’ priorities. The priorities included many things on our list and issues like maternal health ward closures, defending against an optometric scope expansion, school-based counseling, childhood vaccination access, rebuilding public health infrastructure, protecting rights and benefits of new Mainers, voting access, and much more. I’m looking forward to our regular Zoom calls starting on January 16th from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
We also talked about committee assignments, which came out on Thursday morning! Legislators are assigned a committee (or two!) to spend the next two years diving into the issues. They get to rank their top choices, and then leadership assigns them their spot. Two Democrats get chosen as Chairs,, meaning they control the scheduling and lead the meetings. One Republican gets selected as the Lead, which means they are in charge of organizing the other Republicans on the committee. We’ll be diving in deeper on the members as the months go on, but here is a brief rundown of the two committees that most of our issues are assigned.
Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services
| Name | Quick Notes | Contact Information |
| Senator Donna Bailey (D-York), Chair | Lawyer; Previous HCIFS Chair | [email protected] |
| Senator Joseph M. Baldacci (D-Penobscot) | Lawyer; New to HCIFS; Previous HHS Chair | [email protected] |
| Senator David G. Haggan (R-Penobscot) | Retired Social Studies Teacher; New to HCIFS; Previously served as a Representative | [email protected] |
| Representative Kristi Michele Mathieson, Chair (D-Kittery) | Dietician and Co-owner of New Hampshire Natural Health Clinic; Previous HCIFS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Poppy Arford (D-Brunswick) | Patient Advocate; Previous HCIFS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D-Sanford) | Dental Hygenist; Previous HCIFS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Michelle Nicole Boyer (D-Cape Elizabeth) | Owner of Artic Lynx Maternity Wear and Co-Founder of Restore the Floor which advocates for maternal health issues; New to HCIFS | [email protected] |
| Representative Sally Jeane Cluchey (D-Bowdoinham) | Consultant and previously worked in vaccine development; Previous HCIFS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Joshua Morris (R-Turner), Republican Lead | Realtor; Previous HCIFS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Rolf A. Olsen, Jr. (R-Raymond) | Liscened Insurance Agent; New to HCIFS | [email protected] |
| Representative Robert A. Foley (R-Wells) | Insurance Sales; Former HCIFS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Paul R. Flynn (R-Albion) | Pastor and Former Youth Residential Treatment Center Manager; New to HCIFS | [email protected] |
| Representative Marygrace Caroline Cimino (R-Bridgton) | Retail Manager; New to HCIFS | [email protected] |
| Name | Quick Notes | Contact Information |
| Senator Henry Ingwersen (D-York), Chair | Retired Public Teacher and Beekeeper; Former Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Chair; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Senator Tim Nangle (D-Cumberland) | Retired Paramedic; New to HHS | [email protected] |
| Senator Marianne Moore (R-Washington) | Former Cancer Patient Navigator; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Michele Meyer, Chair (D-Eliot) | Nurse (occupational therapy and case management); Former HHS Chair | [email protected] |
| Representative Samuel Lewis Zager (D-Portland) | Physician at Martin’s Point Health Care; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Daniel Joseph Shagoury (D-Hallowell) | Retired Legislative Aid; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Anne P. Graham (D-North Yarmouth) | Retired Pediatric Nurse Practioner; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Flavia M. DeBrito (D-Waterville) | Community Advocate, New to HHS | [email protected] |
| Representative Julia A.G. McCabe (D-Lewiston) | Public School Teacher; New to HHS | [email protected] |
| Representative Kathy Irene Javner (R-Chester)* | Teacher and Development Worker; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Lucien J.B. Daigle (R-Fort Kent) | Dentist; New to HHS | [email protected] |
| Representative Abigail W. Griffin (R-Levant) | Retired Teacher; Former HHS Member | [email protected] |
| Representative Michael H. Lemelin (R-Chelsea) | Business manager of Chiro-works; Former HHS member | [email protected] |
Advocacy Opportunities:
- Reach out to our federal delegation to vote to support the Protect Access to Care for Seniors law, which would help reform the prior authorization system.
- Volunteer to gather signatures with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition because they need 15,000 more signatures to get the ballot initiative considered.
- Please email Senator Collins and Senator King to encourage them to oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s appointment to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Sign on to Family’s USA letter to Congressional Leadership about the importance of Medicaid
Finally, here is your interesting article of the day with a quote from Andy Maclean!: Doctors Say Dealing With Health Insurers Is Only Getting Worse: “Andrew MacLean, chief executive of Maine Medical Association, said he receives phone calls every day from physicians struggling with health insurers demanding so-called clawbacks for bills that had already been paid. ‘It almost feels like they do it because they can,’ MacLean said of the insurers. ‘By no means do we applaud this or would we condone violence, but it’s a scary indication of just how frustrated people are about the current system and the imbalance of power—and physicians certainly feel that.’”
