Episode 34 · Oct 22, 2026 · A Healthy Conversation
with Senator Susan Collins and Troy Jackson · U.S. Senate Candidates
About this episode
Senator Susan Collins joins co-hosts Dr. Lisa Belisle and Dr. Jeff Barkin to discuss her record of never missing a Senate vote and her approach to a sprawling federal budget bill that contained both provisions she valued and cuts to Medicaid she considered harmful. Collins explains why she voted to allow the bill to reach the Senate floor, a procedural step she used to negotiate the inclusion of a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, the largest single federal investment in rural health care in more than two decades. She describes how Maine's first-year allocation of $190 million has already been put to use, including a $2.8 million disbursement that allowed Penobscot Community Health Care, the state's largest federally qualified health center, to avoid bankruptcy, while she ultimately voted against the final bill because of its Medicaid reductions.
The conversation turns to the closure of roughly a dozen maternity units across Maine and the consequences for rural communities trying to attract and retain young families. Collins outlines federal legislation she co-authored with Senator Maggie Hassan to fund new rural residency programs in obstetrics, cross-training family medicine physicians, paramedics, and general surgeons to provide delivery services in facilities without dedicated labor-and-delivery units, and a separate bill she advanced to improve emergency maternal care in rural hospitals. Belisle raises the role of technology in sustaining rural care, and Collins discusses her work to make broadband infrastructure a federal priority, to make telemedicine reimbursement permanent, and to support artificial intelligence tools that can connect rural hospitals to specialized radiologists at larger medical centers. Collins also speaks about her long support for medical research institutions in Maine, including the Jackson Laboratory, the MDI Biological Laboratory, and Maine Medical Center's research institute, and her efforts to protect federal research funding, including blocking a proposal that would have placed peer-reviewed grant awards under political oversight.
Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson joins Barkin for the second half of the episode, drawing on his background as a fifth-generation logger from Allagash and more than two decades in the Maine Legislature, including six years as Maine Senate President. Jackson describes witnessing the closure of birthing centers in Fort Kent, Houlton, Mount Desert Island, and Lincoln County, and argues that healthcare is a right that should not depend on geography or income. He advocates for a Medicare for All model, pointing to the economic burden of medical debt and the inefficiency of high administrative costs in the current system, and calls for student loan forgiveness tied to service in rural and underserved areas, drawing on a similar dental program he supported in the Maine Legislature. Jackson also addresses the acquisition of a struggling central Maine hospital by a for-profit company, arguing against private equity involvement in healthcare, and shares his view on what it would take to work across party lines in Washington on issues like prescription drug pricing and access to primary care.
From this episode
“I am worried that young families will choose not to live in rural Maine because they would have to drive two hours to get prenatal care or delivery services. And that is only going to worsen the flow of people out of northern Maine and other rural areas.”
“I voted to allow the bill to proceed to the Senate floor, which is not unusual if you want to change the bill. But here is what I think has been misunderstood. There are those who have cast this as the decisive vote. It was not. If I had voted the other way, the bill still would have proceeded to the Senate floor.”
“I attended a conference on global health in Boston and I saw how AI could be used to analyze large data sets and help us with medical research. I also saw how an MRI reading in a rural hospital in Maine could be connected to a large medical center like Massachusetts General Hospital or Maine Medical Center, and have a radiologist with specialized training read the film.”
“What I was able to do by allowing the bill to get to the floor, even though I ultimately voted against it, was to author a $50 billion fund for rural healthcare that is the biggest federal investment in rural healthcare in literally decades.”
“The whole idea that healthcare is a for-profit system is what is killing this. I certainly understand doctors, nurses, people that had to go to school and get trained deserve to make a good living. But the idea that we have to have obscene amounts of money for hospital executives making insane amounts, private equity getting into our hospitals is probably going to ruin that.”
“I believe healthcare is a human right. It is not a privilege that is reserved for people who can afford it. And it should not matter what part of the state you live in. You should be able to expect basic human rights and health coverage.”