🔒Health care: More turmoil ahead for health care providers and patients

In 2026, more turmoil is coming for health care providers and patients, predicts Steven Michaud, president of the Maine Hospital Association. “The escalating costs, declining reimbursement from insurance companies, the pending decline in insured patients due to Medicaid cuts and cuts to Obamacare subsidies are a perfect storm for hospitals and their patients,” he said. Hospitals and patients are already on the edge, so more financial hits only spell more declines in access to care coming up, he says. “I’m not optimistic in the short term — meaning 2026,” he continues. “There is just too much on the table that is negative. “I’m hopeful that lawmakers will react and undo some of the harm that is coming and I am also hopeful that hospitals will respond and preserve some level of access by restructuring what we do. It will be painful but it is necessary to preserve some level of access to care throughout the state. That is job No. 1.”