- I moved with my family of five from New York City to Maine almost five years ago.
- We love our life here, and people are incredibly friendly.
- That said, access to good healthcare has been a problem.
When I found out I was pregnant with twins, I told my husband we needed to leave New York City. We had been there for over a decade, but life with little kids seemed impossible in the city.
My husband is from Maine, and I have fallen in love with the state throughout our relationship. We moved to Maine when the twins were 2 weeks old, excited for a change of pace and to spend more time outside. I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be to find good healthcare.
At first, it seemed like a COVID-19 problem
Shortly after we moved in 2020, the state virtually shut down because of COVID-19. As things started to open up again, we tried to establish care with primary care doctors and specialists. Getting in as a new patient was a mixed bag; I got an OB-GYN pretty quickly, but it took over a year and a half to see a dermatologist.
I figured wait times would eventually start going back to normal, but that was not the case. Getting in touch with our pediatrician is still a Herculean effort, with hour-long waits on the phone and days going by before our calls are returned.
Now that our kids are older and can verbalize if something is wrong, we take them to urgent care when they're sick instead of trying their pediatrician. When I mentioned this recently to a group of friends, many said they were doing the same.
Getting specialist care is also still a struggle.
In June 2024, I made an appointment to see if I was a good candidate for Lasik. After being on the waitlist for an appointment for six months, I got an email saying that the only clinic in Portland, Maine, that performs the surgery was no longer taking patients for it.
I decided to see if I could get an appointment with an optometrist in Massachusetts, and I was able to find appointments for that same week with two different practices.
I know the problem extends to medical providers
I have friends who are medical providers in Maine, so I know the problem goes both ways. They complain about long hours, pay that hasn't caught up with the economy, the cost of living, and a lack of new doctors moving to the state to fill in the gaps. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the doctor shortage is a nationwide problem, but small communities, like those common in Maine, see the impact more.
That said, I've also had incredible experiences with certain doctors.
When I tore my ACL in 2024, I saw a sports medicine doctor who personally called local surgeons to take me in. I got a call back from an orthopedic surgeon that same day and had surgery by the end of the following week.
The same sports doctor helped me get an appointment with a physical therapist who only worked rehabbing ACLs. He was essential in my recovery.
When I vented on social media about my experiences with healthcare in Maine, I was inundated with responses from people who have experienced the same issues as me. One friend told me she travels from Maine to New York for all her medical appointments, including her children's. I heard from people who drive across the border with New Hampshire because doctors there have shorter wait times. When I checked to see if my former OB-GYN and dermatologists in New York could take me, their schedules were wide open.
Some friends have suggested going to a concierge doctor as an alternative. Here in Portland, I've only found concierge doctors that don't take insurance and have membership systems with prices starting at $95 a month. On top of what I'm already paying for my family's insurance, we can't afford to spend thousands of dollars on this.
For now, I'm looking into practitioners in nearby states and even thinking about checking with my doctors in New York to see if they'll take me back.
