Maine’s ambulance services are crumbling, and the state’s next governor will be one of the few people with the power to fix it.
Despite years of dire warnings, the state has failed to meaningfully address the lack of ambulances in Maine’s most rural communities, a recent Bangor Daily News investigation found. Those failures resulted in a woman’s death in January 2025.
The next governor will have the power to decide whether to provide funding and fixes for the EMS system. The Bangor Daily News asked the top candidates for governor — independent Rick Bennett, Republican Bobby Charles and Democrat Hannah Pingree — about how they would address the state’s EMS crisis if elected.
Bennett provided specific policy plans he said he plans to implement if elected. Pingree described the barriers the state must address without providing clear plans. Charles blamed failed leadership in Augusta.
“State government sets the standards, the protocols, and the licenses, and it helps fund the local and private services that answer the calls,” Bennett said. “But when someone dials 911 and nobody comes, that is not a local failure. That is a state failure, and the buck stops with the Governor.”
A 2022 state study found that emergency services are “at the edge of a cliff.” The same panel echoed those concerns in a 2024 report. The Maine Emergency Medical Services Commission is tasked with filing a report on the system’s funding needs by Jan. 1, 2027.
Bennett and Pingree agree that EMS is essential and people should know help is coming when they call 911.
“There’s broad agreement, across party lines, that this isn’t functioning,” Pingree said. “Where we’ve been stuck is turning that agreement into action.”
Bennett pointed to how rural Maine is, both inland and on coastal islands. Every square mile of Maine should have a designated primary ambulance service and a back up, he said.
A state law passed this year requires communities to publicly post whether they have a contract for ambulance services. Maine EMS is also conducting a survey of where coverage exists.
Bennett said he will finish that map and publish it if he is elected. It’s unclear if that map is already intended to be public and Maine EMS Director Wil O’Neal did not respond to a request for comment.
“I will convene the people doing the work and go after the most urgent gaps first,” Bennett said. “Closing every one of them will take longer than one budget, and I will be honest with Mainers about that.”
The commission previously said $350 million is needed across five years to support existing EMS services. Instead, the Legislature allocated a one-time $31 million boost to EMS agencies across the state, three-quarters of which has been distributed.
Bennett said he would support more funding for EMS services. He pointed to his vote in favor of the $31 million, but said it was supposed to be a down payment and Gov. Janet Mills never proposed the rest.
Charles said he supports an audit of state spending and rethinking how we fund essential services, particularly healthcare.
Pingree did not answer if lawmakers should expand EMS funding.
Nationwide, insurance reimburses health providers a fraction of the actual cost of what the services actually cost, a federal study found. MaineCare reimburses ambulances at a fixed rate, for example.
Pingree said she would address reimbursement rates.
“Departments are losing money on the calls they run, and that has to change if we want services to stay open, especially for EMS services that have little to no reimbursement,” she said.
Bennett’s first budget would raise MaineCare’s rates to double what Medicare pays, a number the commission said was needed in 2022, he said. He would also require private insurers to meet that same standard, he added.
Charles called the lack of reimbursement rate increases “typical of Augusta.”
The candidates also provided their thoughts on other ways the state’s next governor could help improve struggling EMS in the state.
Community paramedicine is one way to help with those gaps and there is federal money to help, Pingree said. She also said the state needs to address staffing by recruiting and retaining EMS workers.
Having EMS crews do basic in-home care and well-being checks between calls is another way to help with those gaps, Bennett said.
Maine’s EMS coverage was hurt by Gov. Janet Mills COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Charles said. That led to EMS workers quitting instead of getting the vaccine.
Multiple experts have told the BDN regionalization is likely the only way to save the system. In that model, small towns could work with a regional agency while larger communities run their own departments, similar to how county sheriffs or state police operate.
There needs to be a real attempt at regional coordination and building a system that is more efficient while still meeting emergency needs, Pingree said. Individual municipalities cannot solve the EMS crisis themselves.
Sharing services across town lines is essential, and regionalizing is the only way EMS will work, Bennett agreed.
He pointed to the Central Maine Highlands Fire & EMS District 1 where 10 towns worked together to form one district in 2024, which is run by a board of directors. Timelines to regionalize should be set town by town by people who know the place they live to ensure it works well, he said.
“I will put real incentives behind it, so every town that joins a regional EMS district sees a bigger share of state revenue sharing in its own budget,” Bennett said. “Do the right thing, and it shows up as savings for property taxpayers.”