AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - A Maine court said Monday that Gov. Paul LePage must take a step to expand Medicaid as voters demanded in 2016.
The court said the Republican governor’s administration has until June 11 to submit Medicaid expansion paperwork to the federal government.
LePage vetoed Medicaid expansion proposals five times before Maine in 2016 became the first state where voters approved Medicaid expansion in a referendum. But that didn’t end the contentious dispute.
The voter-approved law calls for Maine to expand Medicaid coverage by July 2 to over 70,000 low-income Mainers under age 65. The administration missed the April 3 deadline for filing a plan with the federal government to start the process of expanding the government-funded health care program.
Advocacy groups and several Mainers who criticize LePage for blocking expansion sued in April demanding his administration submit the state plan amendment. Maine must submit such paperwork to eventually receive more than $500 million a year in federal funding.
LePage’s office said he’s reviewing the court decision. The governor has called for lawmakers to fund the state share of Medicaid expansion under his terms, which includes no tax hikes.
LePage’s Department of Health and Human Services argued that the courts shouldn’t weigh in on a legislative spending decision. Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy disagreed with such arguments in her court order Monday.
“The court is not persuaded that the executive branch is excused from clear statutory obligations by the legislature’s failure to follow through with legislative obligations - as defined by the executive branch,” she said. “The commissioner has not cited to any authority suggesting that an agency can be considered to have substantially complied with a directory statute by taking no action at all.”
Maine Equal Justice Partners Executive Director Robyn Merrill said the LePage administration previously hinted it would appeal such a decision.
The lawsuit by Maine Equal Justice Partners and other groups contends there are enough funds in the state’s Medicaid account to get through the current budget ending in June 2019. There also is more than $140 million in unallocated funds that the state could draw from at any time, the group said.
“It’s now up to the governor needs to do his job to implement it,” she said. “There is funding available to fund it. The Legislature just needs to make sure the funding is available when it’s needed.”
Lawmakers have been unable to agree on such a plan, with some Republican leaders remaining skeptical of Medicaid expansion’s costs.
The LePage administration contends it would cost taxpayers more than $50 million in fiscal 2019 and require hiring 100 workers. The costs could exponentially grow from there, says the governor.
LePage disagrees with estimates that Medicaid expansion will save Maine money.
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