Improving Health Care for Maine People and Small Businesses:
- Expanded Medicaid: Following the will of Maine voters, Governor Mills issued an Executive Order on her first full day in office expanding Medicaid in Maine. As of October 2025, 95,000 Maine people have health care, including preventive care, like cancer screenings, substance use treatment, and mental health services, as a result.
- Drove Down Maine's Uninsured Rate: Under Governor Mills leadership, Maine's uninsured rate dropped the fastest of any state in 2021 and in the last few years has been lower than ever.
- Expanded Access to Reproductive Rights: Governor Mills has signed into law a series of bills to protect access to reproductive health care including legislation to: protect Maine health care providers from being targeted by other states; remove financial barriers to abortion by prohibiting deductibles for abortion services; prevent municipalities from enacting any local ordinance that is in conflict with Maine's Reproductive Privacy Act; make clear that the decision about an abortion later in a pregnancy will be made by qualified medical professionals with their patients; expand access to emergency contraception; require public and private insurance coverage of abortion services; and prevent protestors from blocking access to health clinics, among other measures.
- Protected Coverage for Pre-existing Conditions: Governor Mills proposed and signed into law 'An Act to Protect Health Care Coverage for Maine Families' which 1) ensures no Mainer living with pre-existing conditions is denied health care coverage; 2) prohibits charging seniors substantially higher rates due to age; 3) bans lifetime and annual caps on coverage; 4) allows young adults up to age 26 to remain on their parents' insurance, and; 5) requires coverage for ten essential health benefits, such as ambulance services, prescription drugs and pediatric care.
- Improved Private Health Coverage for Maine People: Governor Mills proposed and signed into law the 'Made for Maine Health Coverage Act', a bill that made some of the most common medical visits free or less costly, simplified shopping for a health care plan, lowered insurance costs for the small group market, and established a State-based health insurance marketplace -- CoverME.gov -- which helped achieve a 10 percent increase in Maine people selecting plans over the previous open enrollment period, reversing years of decline.
- Restored and Expanded the Drugs for the Elderly (DEL): Governor Mills expanded the Low Cost Drugs for the Elderly and Disabled Program which helps low-income older Maine people afford prescription medications copays. Eligibility for the program had been reduced under the previous administration. After restoring the program to prior levels, Governor Mills signed legislation to remove asset limits and raise income eligibility so that more older people in Maine can access this support.
- Tackled The Skyrocketing Cost of Insulin: Governor Mills signed into law a bill creating an insulin safety net program, allowing Mainers with type 1 diabetes to buy a 30-day supply of insulin for $35 at least once a year.
- Expanded Dental Care: Governor Mills signed into law a bill to expand dental care to more than 200,000 low-income Maine people through MaineCare.
- Saved Lives from the Opioid Crisis: Under Governor Mills' leadership, the state has taken significant actions to address the opioid epidemic, including distributing more than 155,000 doses of the life-saving medication naloxone; investing in residential treatment beds, recovery community centers and residences and recovery coaches; establishing the OPTIONS program, and creating stable housing for those with chronic substance use disorder with wraparound services to help them become productive citizens once again. In 2023, Maine saw its largest decrease in drug overdose deaths since 2018.
- Launched Small Business Premium Relief Program: Through her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, Governor Mills launched the Small Business Health Insurance Premium Relief Program to deliver nearly $43 million in premium relief to small businesses to maintain affordable health insurance for their employees -- a critical benefit in recruiting and retaining workers -- as Maine recovered from the pandemic.
- Eliminated Tax on Menstrual Products: Governor Mills proposed funding to exempt the sale of menstrual products from sales tax to remove barriers to accessing necessary menstrual products.
- Increased Funding for Crucial MaineCare Services: Governor Mills has invested unprecedented funding to reform MaineCare rates for providers of health care and long-term services and supports for older Mainers, people with behavioral health challenges, adults with intellectual or physical disabilities, home- and community-based services, and ambulance services in rural areas, among others.
- Strengthened Maine's Health Care Workforce: Through her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, Governor Mills dedicated unprecedented funding to tackle Maine's longstanding health care workforce challenges, including initiatives that advance career pathway development, provide on-the-job training opportunities, and ensure "stackable" credits for workers entering the fields of long-term services and supports among others.
- Recertified Riverview Psychiatric Facility: Governor Mills won Federal recertification of Riverview Psychiatric Facility, which was decertified under the previous administration, and paid back the State's debt to the Federal government accrued by the previous administration during Riverview's decertification.
- Ended the 30-Year-Old AMHI Consent Decree: Governor Mills reached a landmark agreement ending the three-decade-old Augusta Mental Health Institute (AMHI) Consent Decree.
- Rebuilt Public Health and Social Services Infrastructure: Governor Mills restored critical funding to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to hire child protective caseworkers, Maine CDC staff including public health nurses, and others.
- Protected Maine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Under Governor Mills' leadership, Maine achieved one of the highest rates of vaccination nationwide - more than 80 percent of the state's total population - against the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being one of the oldest states in the country, Maine also had one of the lowest mortality rates from the virus because of the state's robust public health response.
- Expanded Access to Psychiatric Services for Older Maine people: Governor Mills opened a new 20 bed geriatric psychiatric unit at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center. This unit serves the needs of older adults who have severe, persistent, mental illness requiring inpatient psychiatric care.
- Expanded Behavioral Health Services: Governor Mills established a crisis receiving center in Cumberland County and is working to establish a network of centers across the state. This, paired with the implementation of the 988 Crisis Lifeline and other reforms built out the full continuum of crisis services in Maine: someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go.
- Established the Office of Injury and Violence Prevention (OIVP): Governor Mills proposed the OIVP to reduce violence; create a central hub about violence-related injuries and deaths; and inform public health and prevention measures to reduce suicides, homicides, and other injuries in Maine.
- Improved Supports for Older Mainers to Age Safely at Home: Under Governor Mills' leadership, Maine received the national designation of being an Age-Friendly State, established the Elder Justice Roadmap and developed and implemented the RISE model, a cutting-edge program that reduces abuse of older adults. Governor Mills also established licensing of Personal Care Agencies to improve oversight and quality of those providing in-home care to vulnerable adults.
- Issued the Child Safety and Family Well-Being Plan: The Mills Administration and the Maine Child Welfare Action Network developed the Child Safety and Family Well-Being Plan, which outlines how everyone in Maine can keep children safe by keeping families strong and identifies strategies to support families to prevent crisis.