Hello all, 

Now that the election has passed, we wanted to share the 2025 Maine Medical Association and Maine Osteopathic Association Legislative Priorities document for our collective work on state and federal healthcare policies. We have been holding out on sharing this document until the State elections were more settled, but with 11 races set for a recount, we decided it was better to share Version One of the document and then share Version Two with an updated “Political Landscape” section once all of the races have officially concluded. Version One has yellow highlights that are areas that are subject to change. We will send out Version Two in a subsequent e-newsletter. 

This two-page document will give you great information on ways to get involved and an overview of the current political landscape. We also worked with your 2025 Legislative Committee Co-chairs (Isabella Askari, D.O., Kathryn Brandt, D.O., M.S., MEDL, Patrick Connolly, MD) to develop our 2025 priorities, which are a reflection of what we heard from our members through surveys, formal listening sessions and ongoing conversations. 

As you’ll see, the priorities are broad buckets that will encompass both offensive and defensive work at the Legislature. Some of the priorities have made the list before; for example, we will always advocate for improvement to issues that affect your daily practice, like reform to prior authorization and protecting the physician-patient relationship. But we have a couple of new ones on the list, too; for example, “Advancing Health Equity for all members of our community by addressing Social Determinants of Health Care” is a long phrase; still, we feel like it captures a lot of the important public health issues that you all identified you wanted us to work on like combating climate change, ensuring access to broadband and much more. 

I also want to flag the first piece of the document, which has a lot of great information about ways to be involved. We heard from members that they didn’t always know how to get engaged in the advocacy efforts, so we want to make sure you know of the many opportunities that are open to all physicians in the State, including 

• Don't miss the  hybrid kick-off meeting of the Legislative Committees on Thursday, December 12th, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm (email [email protected] to RSVP). It will start with a dinner to connect with your peers and end with an overview of the 132nd Legislature. 

• Weekly Zoom Legislative Committee meetings starting January 16th from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm (register here or look for the link in our weekly e-news) 

• Physicians’ Day of Advocacy at the State House on March 6th from 8:0am to 12:00 pm (RSVP here or email [email protected] if you can’t access Google) 

I, along with the rest of the staff at MMA and MOA, are excited to work with you all for another legislative session. We want to make sharing your voice as easy as possible, so please keep looking out for ways to get involved in the e-news! And always reach out with questions! 

Best, 

Anne 

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Anne Sedlack, Esq., M.S.W. (she/her/hers) 

Director of Advocacy

Maine Medical Association 

Cell: 203-560-9302 

Email: [email protected] 

MOA/MMA Legislative Committee Calls will be held weekly on Thursday nights at 6PM during the Maine Legislative Session.

Email [email protected] to RSVP

The "Medical Provider of the Day," program will also return for the 132nd Session. Please contact Sarah Lepoff to sign up to serve as Doctor of the Day at the Legislature! This is a meaningful way to get to know Legislators and give back to the community.