People across the country are rationing life-saving medications, delaying treatment, and risking their health at the hands of one of the world’s most expensive and poorly-managed healthcare systems.

What if instead of just talking about the rising costs of healthcare, our legislators worked together and actually brought costs down?

Several bills in the Maine legislature seek to ease the financial burdens of our healthcare system by lowering the cost of prescription drugs, creating a commission to monitor healthcare costs, protecting patients from abusive billing practices (LD 2111), and eliminating surprise billing in emergency care (LD 2105).

There is a surprising lack of care in the American healthcare system where the costs to patients are concerned, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Maine could be a leader in creating a healthcare system that puts patients over profits, thus creating a state in which working families can thrive.