Living in the Middle, Fighting for the Middle

For weeks I’ve felt pushed in every direction. Are you Republican or Democrat? Do you love your family enough? Why don’t you pick a side? The questions keep coming, and the answer is always the same: I’m in the middle.

That’s not just my personal story — it’s the story of aging in America. At the top, wealth buys choices. At the bottom, Medicaid offers a lifeline. But in the middle? That’s where the system breaks. Families who worked and saved enough to stay off Medicaid but not enough to buy endless private care — they are the ones left stranded.

I saw it at the Plant Home. A nonprofit built for middle-income Mainers couldn’t survive the squeeze. Families who should have had stability instead watched it collapse beneath them. And every day at Maine Aging Partners, I see the same struggle repeating itself.

The toll for me personally has been real. Less focused time with my family. Financial stress that shadows every decision. Even the joy of dinners with girlfriends has ended. But those losses only underscore why I keep speaking: because if the middle keeps getting erased, families across Maine will lose far more than I have.

Carrying this message doesn’t make me reckless. It makes me responsible. The middle is where aging gets real. And until we rebuild the system around it — with choices before crisis, support that doesn’t punish stability, and leadership willing to cross lines — the backbone of aging will keep disappearing.