AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Gov. Paul LePage says he’s searching the budget, looking for a way to pay for voter-approved Medicaid expansion and is finding “it’s a big reach.”
The Republican governor said the money must “be in the bank” before the state expands Medicaid coverage to roughly 70,000 low-income adults at a $54 million annual cost. LePage didn’t indicate what he might propose cutting but has pushed for stricter rules for Medicaid eligibility to reduce the number of people getting the benefit. He has said Medicaid and other social assistance programs should chiefly serve the elderly and people unable to work.
“I can’t wait to see the rabbit they pull out of the hat to pay for Medicaid,” LePage said last week. He said his administration also is looking at potential spending cuts to pay for the expansion.
“We’re certainly working on it, but I’m telling you it’s a big reach,” he said. “It’s just not there.”
The Legislature’s appropriations committee is set to meet Wednesday to discuss revenue forecasts and Medicaid expansion. LePage’s office has declined an invitation to attend the meeting and says it will instead respond to questions for the governor in writing.
The governor, in a letter Monday, demanded that lawmakers quickly fund the expansion and comply with his list of conditions, including providing funding for long-term care for adults with intellectual disabilities who are on waitlists.
He said lawmakers shouldn’t raise taxes on Maine families or businesses, raid the rainy day fund or rely on one-time funding mechanisms or budgetary gimmicks for Medicaid expansion. Lawmakers also must keep in mind that Maine may have to repay $51 million the federal government gave to Riverview Psychiatric Center.
Lawmakers still have to nail down exactly how much the expansion will cost over the two-year budget passed in July, said Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine, House chair on the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs. He said lawmakers on Wednesday will likely start coming up with a list of questions for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
“We need to know the department’s timeline, how many people they think will be enrolled in the beginning and how the enrollment will ramp up,” Gattine said.
James Myall, policy analyst for the liberal Maine Center for Economic Policy, said the governor is imposing “impossible” conditions to delay expansion as long as possible.
“Whatever the governor says, the decision lies with the Legislature,” Myall said.
Supporters say Maine’s latest expansion will save lives. But the governor, who is nearing his last full year as governor, said expansion will be a “financial disaster” for a state whose coffers were strained by the 2002 Medicaid expansion.
“I’m just glad I won’t be governor,” LePage said. “I am so glad I will be done. Because that was really shooting yourself in the foot.”
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