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Jared Golden holds town hall meeting at FMH

March 21, 2019

FARMINGTON - U.S. Rep. Jared Golden held a town hall-style meeting at Franklin Memorial Hospital Tuesday evening, discussing ways to improve Mainers' access to health care and some recent developments in Washington D.C.

The Farmington meeting was the first for Golden, who said he wanted to hold a series of meetings across the 2nd Congressional District on different subjects. More than 50 people attended, asking the congressman questions as their names were pulled out of a fishbowl by Tom Saviello, who helped moderate the meeting. Dawn Caron, a nurse at Eastern Maine Medical Center, spoke briefly prior to Golden, saying that the number one cause of bankruptcy in the United States was out-of-pocket health care costs and that more had to be done to provide access to affordable care.

Golden outlined three elements he said were necessary for an efficient health care system: universal coverage for all citizens; access to primary, preventative care, particularly in rural parts of the country; and a more streamlined billing and payment system. While the United States spends more than any other industrialized nation on health care, Golden said, it lagged significantly behind in terms of efficiency.

"Everyone is looking to get paid. Nobody is looking out for the person at the center of it, which is the patient," Golden said.

Ideas Golden discussed included opening up access to Medicare to more people, including potentially lowering the minimum age from 65 down to 50. He recalled meeting with mill workers in Rumford that told him they were ready to retire but couldn't until they could qualify for Medicare. Allowing people to buy into Medicare at a younger age would also benefit younger people that might be waiting to step into those positions, Golden said.

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