New Maine commission looking to tackle issues surrounding healthcare

by Linda

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) – Lawmakers and those associated with various different fields in healthcare met on Wednesday in Augusta for the first meeting of a new commission.

The group was deemed necessary by the legislature to discuss matters that didn’t get fully covered towards the end of the session earlier this year.

Some of the major focuses of the commission will be the state’s current certificate of need laws and looking at potential legislative changes in regards to healthcare transactions.

They say they will also look at the impact of private businesses running or owning Maine’s hospitals.

The group will also look at potential bills talked about in the past session, but due to the lack of time were carried over but now can be discussed by those in the field.

“In this building and in that one, I feel like we are kind-of in a bubble of what’s possible or believe to be possible,” commented Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Penobscot. “Sometimes our horizons are a bit narrowed and we’re constrained by things like what we think will fly politically or what might there be budget for and things like that and I think a meeting like this is one where we can talk about kind-of what’s actually needed.”

“When you get to the end of session and you have all of these things coming down, if you rush it, you make the wrong decisions and that’s what we really didn’t want to do,” added Rep. Robert Foley, R-Wells.

While the commission can’t create legislation or submit a bill, it can recommend changes to legislative committees.

The next scheduled hearing for the commission is later this month.

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