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Healthcare Survey 

Your experience matters. Help us make healthcare better for everyone.

Win a $250 gift card for filling out this survey!

Federal changes may impact your healthcare! 

We want to hear how these shifts may be affecting you:

  • Higher Costs: Monthly premiums are rising as Marketplace subsidies end.

  • Coverage Hurdles: New work requirements are making it harder to keep MaineCare.

  • Reduced Access: Stricter eligibility rules are cutting off care for immigrant community members.

  • Higher Prices for Everyone: As more people lose insurance, the cost of care is expected to rise across the board.

Your Privacy Matters: Your data is used for informational purposes only and will not be shared without your explicit consent.

Get Involved: If you would like to help our healthcare advocacy efforts or share your story publicly, please indicate your interest in the survey.


Directions

  • You will see different survey sections covering different insurance options, including for those uninsured. You only need to fill in the sections that apply to you. 
  • Your "Household" (referred to in many questions) consists of the family members on your healthcare plan, or your spouse/partner, and dependents who live with you, but have different insurance. We know sometimes, children are eligible for Mainecare but parents are not, or another parent in another household may cover a child's healthcare. You may need to fill out multiple sections, if your household has various insurance policies. You may include each insurance you, your spouse/partner, and children/dependents use. If you are not sure, answer questions to the best of your ability and use the text boxes to let us know your situation. This survey is more about collecting stories than exact data, so do the best you can. We know family units can looks all different ways, and what we care about most is hearing about your thoughts, fears, worries, and healthcare success stories. It's about your stories!
  • Be sure to scroll to the end of the survey to answer general healthcare questions, let us know about privacy preferences, and to enter a drawing to win a $250 gift card. You must fill out the survey to be entered. 
  • If you have any questions reach out to: sarah.michelle.stevens@maine.edu, an intern at Maine Equal Justice leading this project. 
Your Information








Demographics







By submitting your contact information above, you agree to get important texts and emails from Maine Equal Justice. Don't worry, we won't spam you and we'll never sell your data.  You may unsubscribe at any time.
Mainecare/Medicaid

**For Reference: When we talk about federal changes, we are talking about changes brought about by a budget bill that passed in July 2025, sometimes referred to as  the “One big beautiful bill,” or  HR1. 


Federal Changes = One big beautiful bill = HR1


You may have heard that due to federal changes, some people using Medicaid (Mainecare here in Maine) may lose access to their health care coverage or their provider . Some of these changes impact Mainecare members directly, and some of them hurt the healthcare system on the whole and cost states more money. 


You may be impacted by these changes as soon as January 2027. One of the first changes will restrict even more lawfully present immigrants from accessing Medicaid.


Some Mainecare members who do not fit into an exemption, will need to report 80 work or volunteer hours per month to DHHS to keep their health care coverage .

This will not apply to everyone. Read more about who will be exempt from work requirements on page 3. You may fit a category that will keep you from reporting requirements.


Learn more about the impacts on Mainecare here.


**Even if you think you may lose Mainecare coverage from HR1, you should continue to apply and complete your review.









Marketplace

**For Reference: In the last 6 months, there has been a lot of talk about insurance on the “Marketplace.” Some people call this Obamacare, or the ACA. In Maine, we access the Marketplace on coverme.gov. 


At the end of 2025 there was debate in Congress about continuing enhanced subsidies (premium tax credits) that for several years have made healthcare plans on the Marketplace more affordable for more people. Some members of Congress wanted to extend these healthcare subsidies and some did not. In the end, the enhanced subsidies were not extended, which resulted in very large increases in the price of healthcare plans on the Marketplace. 


Learn more about the impacts of the expiration of Marketplace subsidies

here.







Private Insurance

Experts have predicted that because of changes to Medicaid and the Marketplace, and a higher number of people who will be uninsured, that private insurance prices and health care costs will go up too. 


We also know that private insurance was already a struggle for many. In the "general healthcare questions" section you can let us know if you have recently experienced issues with private insurance, outside of any recent increase to cost or decrease in coverage.








No Insurance




General Healthcare Questions




Advocacy


Permissions

How would you like to share your story? You may choose to stay anonymous, and your information will be used only to gather a better understanding of healthcare experiences, and identify systemic issues that we may address through advocacy without identifying you. 




Gift Card Prize
Let us know below if you would like to enter a drawing for a $250 visa gift card for completing the survey. Please make sure that you have included a correct and current phone number above (in the "your info" section)