At a glance:
- Mainers are increasingly concerned about the cost of living, including the cost of care
- Child care, direct care, and health care are essential services that keep our economy running
- Families in Maine are navigating rising child care, direct care, and health care costs
- Investments in care infrastructure are popular and urgently needed to help Mainers
Affordability is a major challenge for people in Maine and across the country. While rising gas and grocery prices dominate conversations about the cost of living, another part of the household budget deserves our attention: the cost of care.
Child care, direct care, and health care prices have soared in the last few years, making essential supports even further out of reach for Maine families. Without public investment, it will only get harder for Mainers to access the care they need.
Cost of living tops polls of issues concerning Mainers
According to a recent survey by Harris, 95% of Americans believe we are in an affordability crisis. Here in Maine, 75% of respondents to a Pan Atlantic poll identified cost of living and inflation as one of the top three issues facing the state, with around 40% respondents identifying the cost of health care and housing as other key issues. In that same poll, more than half of respondents said their household finances were worse off than they were a year ago.
These results highlight the ways rising costs are affecting families across the state, with costs quickly outpacing wages. As recent research by MECEP shows, federal policy choices ranging from the War on Iran to allowing corporate greed to go unchecked are making it more difficult for families to meet their basic needs. The choices of state and federal lawmakers play an important role for care costs.
Child care, direct care, and health care are essential services that keep our economy running
Health care, direct care supporting older people and people with disabilities, and child care are not optional expenses. They are essential to the physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing of Mainers. When care is too expensive or inaccessible, there can be long-term consequences for families across the state. This can range from deferring necessary medical care and requiring expensive hospitalization to taking on unpaid labor that makes paid employment impossible.
Women are disproportionately likely to leave the work force due to family caregiving, with significant implications for these workers and the economy as a whole. Caregivers who leave their positions are less likely to find paid employment in the future and often face precarious economic security later in life. These individual economic impacts are particularly felt by women, and they compound to affect the economy as a whole. The number of traditionally working-age adults missing from the labor force due to family caregiving reduces the state GDP by over $1 billion per year, according to research by MECEP.
Child care costs dominate the budgets of families with young children
Families with young children often pay more for child care than housing. In Maine, annual costs can range from $11,074 for a four-year-old to over $16,000 for an infant in a licensed center. Even when families can afford care, it may be unavailable, especially in rural parts of the state, with 22% of Maine families living in child care deserts: places with no or limited licensed child care.
Recent policy changes at the federal are likely to make these challenges even worse. The Trump administration issued a rule in early September 2026 to redirect funding from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to married families with a stay-at-home parent. This change would deplete the already limited public funds supporting child care for working parents with low income, who are disproportionately single women. This program is already underfunded, with only 1 in 7 eligible children receiving care. State policymakers face the challenge of mitigating these federal cuts while developing state-level policies that increase access to affordable care.
Many families need direct care, but few can afford it
Access to direct care is a major affordability issue for families across the state. When affordable services aren’t available, Maine families pay the price, often by providing unpaid care themselves, cutting back on work, or leaving the workforce altogether. For people who can afford to pay privately, long-term care can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, ranging from $70,000 for 30 hours a week of in-home care to over $178,000 a year for full-time care in a nursing home. Because of the expense of this care, large numbers of Mainers rely on the publicly financed system through Medicaid, but there are often not enough providers available for eligible families. Families with middle income who cannot afford or access home-based direct care may face unmet needs, greater reliance on family caregivers, or more costly hospital and institutional care. Maine’s care workforce also struggles to make ends meet, contributing to shortages that make care harder to find and afford.
Public investment is necessary to make direct care more affordable by expanding access and paying care workers enough to build a stable workforce, including securing higher wages, adequate benefits, and the right to organize and collectively bargain. Lawmakers can further expand access to high-quality, accessible care by investing in new facilities, renewed child care subsidies, tax credits, and eligibility expansions.
Health care and insurance costs keep going up
Seventy percent of adults in the United States say they are concerned about covering health care costs for themselves and their family, according to a survey by YouGov and National Women’s Law Center (NWLC). That number is even higher for women. Research shows health insurance costs have soared for Maine families in the last year. The average monthly cost of marketplace health plans has gone up 27.7% in the last year, from $545 to $696 per month. Costs per month are almost 10% higher in the state’s more rural second congressional district than the more urban first district.
These increases are directly linked to federal and state policy decisions, including Congress’s decision to let ACA premium tax credits expire and Medicaid cuts linked to President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Without public investment and policy changes, we can anticipate the costs of health care to continue to outpace available funding.
Care investments are popular and necessary
Public funding for care infrastructure is overwhelmingly popular. A recent study by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) alongside YouGov highlights the popularity of care infrastructure investments. Eighty-one percent of adults in the US say they support developing an affordable, guaranteed child care system, and 63% support creating a free, universal system. Those numbers are even higher among mothers and parents of children under age 18. There is even greater support for affordable long-term care. Eighty-nine percent of adults support guaranteeing access to affordable long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities.
While fewer studies track state-specific perspectives, most Mainers oppose cuts and support investments in child care, direct care, and health care. Over 76% of Maine voters surveyed oppose cuts to child care provider wages and the Head Start program. Likewise, 86% of Maine residents believe we should increase reimbursement rates to long-term care. Likewise, the vast majority — 85% — of Mainers surveyed believe it is the state’s responsibility to ensure everyone has access to affordable health care. A recent Pan Atlantic Research poll further finds 50% of Mainers supported expanding MaineCare coverage, while an additional 34% support maintaining coverage at existing levels.
As we approach a new legislative session, policymakers at the state and federal levels can make bold investments in the care economy, addressing some of the most significant affordability challenges facing communities in Maine. This will require a shared vision and strategic policies that align key investments in the care economy with new sources of progressive revenue.