By Janet Mills Commemorating a new day, at the beginning of a new year and a new decade, I stood Wednesday on the pinnacle of a popular hiking spot. Surveying the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Appalachian Trail far to the west and the lights of the cities to the south, I thought about the past and the future of our great state. Taking stock of the past at the turn of the year often lets us see the future more clearly. I recall vividly, a year ago, standing before the people of Maine and becoming your 75th Governor. I talked about our history, about "the unsung" people of Maine as poet Wes McNair called them, and about health care, the opioid epidemic, climate change, education and the economy. That same week, by executive order, Maine expanded Medicaid. Now, more than 56,000 people have accessed life-saving health care coverage. Then with the passage of LD 1, we made sure that Maine people would not lose their health insurance due to pre-existing conditions and that their families would have necessary mental health, pediatric care and substance abuse treatment. And we began the hard work of reducing health insurance costs for small businesses and self-employed individuals. We commenced a battle to undo the ravages of the long festering opioid epidemic, providing life-saving naloxone across the state, creating more recovery centers, providing medication assisted treatment to incarcerated individuals, beefing up prevention efforts and training dozens of recovery coaches to turn people's lives around. We issued long-delayed voter-approved housing bonds to build 200 new homes and weatherize and adapt another 100 for seniors. We revived the Children's Cabinet and the public health nursing program, hired dozens of child protection workers, beefed up prenatal care and commenced a Safe Sleep campaign to prevent the needless deaths of infants. In June I signed a budget that had broad bipartisan support in the Legislature and that was negotiated and debated with civility and collaboration. That budget provided property tax relief, invested another $115 million in pre-K-12 and adult education and set us on the path to a $40,000 minimum teacher salary. Working with the Legislature, we enacted significant measures to tackle the high cost of prescription drugs; passed groundbreaking legislation to require dangerous people to relinquish their firearms; and created incentives for residential and community solar projects, for offshore wind, for heat pumps and for the purchase of electric vehicles and charging stations. We created the bipartisan Maine Climate Council and joined the US Climate Alliance. In September I stood before the United Nations and told delegates from 193 countries about the things our state is doing to combat climate change. In November we announced a 10-year economic development plan -- the first in decades -- to stimulate growth, personal income and workforce availability in the coming years, with results that are concrete and measurable. Today I give thanks to the thousands of people who offered their help -- citizens, businesses and legislators from every corner of Maine who gave us ideas about the economy, health care, public safety, climate change and children's issues; who told us they want to see the state move forward with a civil tone and in a spirit of cooperation. I especially thank the 15 people who stepped up to serve in the new cabinet -- including three who served in the previous administration, four veterans; eight women and seven men. These people are, in my view, the best and the brightest Maine has to offer, perhaps the most qualified cabinet in recent history. A year ago I invited the people of Maine to "rise before the dawn -- like the new mist over the Sandy River -- and seek adventure, with hope in our hearts and love in our soul for the brand new day." Today, on this brand new day in this new year -- our bicentennial year -- in a brand new decade, I thank you for the privilege of being your governor, and I invite the people of Maine again to join in an adventure of change, progress and prosperity. I wish each of you the healthiest, safest and happiest year ahead.

By Janet Mills In 2016, Kathy Stewart of Winslow was falling through the cracks of our health care system, struggling to afford the oxygen she needs for her emphysema. The self-employed hairdresser should have qualified for expanded MaineCare (Medicaid), but repeated bipartisan attempts to expand Medicaid in Maine were denied. So Kathy took time away from her job, her children and her grandchildren to speak out in favor of a citizen initiative to expand access to critical health care in Maine. A year later, on Nov. 7, 2017, Maine voters overwhelmingly passed the referendum directing the state to expand MaineCare. Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of that momentous vote, when Maine became the first state in the nation to expand Medicaid at the ballot box. Now, Kathy is among over 40,000 Maine people who are enrolled in MaineCare under the expansion. Instead of falling through the cracks, they're getting health care without having to sacrifice other essentials like heat and food. They can breathe easier -- in Kathy's case, quite literally. With this crucial coverage now in place, we're seeing Maine people get preventive screenings and treatment of and medication for chronic illnesses. As of Sept. 30, over 14,000 MaineCare expansion enrollees have received mental health treatment, and over 2,500 have been screened for breast or colorectal cancers. Over 5,700 of these new enrollees have been treated for substance use disorder. Spending remains within our projections, and Maine stands to receive nearly $700 million in federal matching funds through state fiscal year 2021. I made expanding Medicaid job No. 1 when I took office because it was the will of the people. It is good for the Maine economy. And it is the right thing to do. Health care should not be a luxury or a privilege for the well off. For that same reason, I also signed into law L.D. 1, which adds state-guaranteed protections for health care coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. We have expanded reproductive health care coverage under MaineCare, and I signed a prescription drug reform package into law to reduce the cost of medications. I restored the Maine Low-Cost Drugs for the Elderly and Disabled program to cover 1,800 more Maine seniors, supported treatment and prevention programs to help combat the opioid epidemic and bolstered public health. But our work isn't done. Threats to the Affordable Care Act still loom in the courts as the Trump administration continues to try to take health care away from millions of Americans. Too many Maine people already lack insurance. In 2018, before we expanded Medicaid, 106,000 people in Maine were uninsured, or 8 percent of the state's population. Many of them were children -- Maine had the highest rate of uninsured children in the Northeast last year, new data show. Many uninsured people remain unaware that affordable, high-quality coverage options are available. That's why last week, we kicked off open enrollment by urging Maine people and small businesses to visit CoverME.gov. This new statewide outreach campaign provides information on and connections to affordable coverage options through both the federal marketplace and expanded MaineCare. Maine people can apply for MaineCare at any time of year; enrollment through the federal marketplace ends Dec. 15. Already we're seeing a jump in MaineCare applications during the first days of open enrollment compared this time last year. We are prepared for the influx, thanks to the Department of Health and Human Services' work to streamline the application process. But when open enrollment ends, our work will continue. We will work to get more Maine kids enrolled in the Children's Health Insurance Program called CubCare. And we're pursuing a state-based health insurance marketplace starting next year. This puts Maine -- not the federal government -- in the driver's seat to help our consumers and small employers understand their local options for affordable coverage. Kathy Stewart joined us for last week's open enrollment announcement, to share how her life has changed with the expansion of MaineCare. After going for too long without coverage, now she has her oxygen back and she can afford her medications. I thank Maine voters for standing up for people like Kathy and promise to continue taking every opportunity make health care affordable for all Mainers.