On July 21, 2021, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcommittee held a hearing on year-end data from CDC showing life expectancy dropped 1.5 years from 2019 to 2020. The focus of the hearing was on both COVID-19 and drug overdoses. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) pointed to the concerning number of drug overdose deaths in Maine, 504 last year alone, which were more than the deaths there from COVID-19.
