Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Awards
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
    • Women in Healthcare
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
    • - Leaders to Watch
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Women Leaders
    • - Women to Watch
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Strategic Marketing
    • - Virtual Health
  • Listen
    • Podcast - Next Up
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Medicaid
January 20, 2014 12:00 AM

Reform Update: Despite governor's staunch opposition, Maine lawmakers continue to push for Medicaid expansion

Andis Robeznieks
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    LePage

    Although Republican Gov. Paul LePage continues to be a stalwart opponent to expanding Medicaid, providers in Maine are still pushing to make their state the 26th state to do so under the Affordable Care Act. Some Maine lawmakers want to go much further and push the state toward a single-payer system.

    LePage, a conservative Republican, cites a new feasibility study—which found that Medicaid expansion could cost the state up to $3.2 billion over the next 10 years—as reason to find other solutions to the state's healthcare access problems.

    The report has drawn criticism, but LePage defended it in his weekly radio address as “a road map to save taxpayers money and improve services for the truly needy.”

    Last year, Medicaid expansion bills passed the Maine Legislature by sizable majorities—97-51 in the House and 23-12 in the Senate—but a two-thirds majority was needed to override LePage's veto, and the votes were not there to do that. In fact, the measure lost support in the House as the override effort failed by a 95-52 vote.

    Now bills have been reintroduced in both the state House and Senate that would expand Medicaid coverage to include Maine residents who are at 133% of the federal poverty level. Among those who spoke in favor of the expansion bills at a recent hearing were representatives of the Maine Medical Association, Maine Hospital Association and eight-hospital MaineHealth, the state's largest healthcare system.

    Mark Biscone, CEO of MaineHealth's Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, testified that his hospital has received 25 calls a week since the end of the year from patients who have either lost their Medicaid coverage or lost coverage for their medications. “It is MaineHealth's expectation that this law will provide affordable coverage to a greater number of our most vulnerable patients,” Biscone told lawmakers.

    Jeffrey Austin, Maine Hospital Association vice president of government affairs and communication, said the state's 39 community-governed hospitals need Medicaid expansion to make up for scheduled cuts in Medicare payments. He also cited statistics from the last five years showing how Medicaid spending has remained stable—contrary to what some critics have said.

    “One aspect of the debate over expansion that is most frustrating to me is the repetition of a tired shibboleth that Medicaid spending is out-of-control,” Austin testified. “It is most definitely not.”

    Dr. Amy Madden, a family physician at the Belgrade (Maine) Regional Health Center who testified on behalf of the 4,000-member Maine Medical Association, argued that the expansion would cover a vulnerable population of Maine residents who are getting inferior care.

    “The people who would be covered under this expansion are a lot of people in my community—they build our houses, cut our trees, plow our driveways, provide our firewood—they are working and providing for themselves and their families but have neither employer-based benefits nor the disposable income to purchase health insurance,” Madden testified. “When they get sick, they are at risk of significant financial compromise despite our best efforts to connect them with charity care and reduced fee services. Needless to say, they are not getting the basic preventive care that is provided to those of us who have insurance.”

    Lawmakers are scheduled to discuss the bills again Jan. 22.

    Meanwhile, bills have also been introduced in the Maine House and Senate to establish a single-payer healthcare system effective in 2017.

    At a Jan. 9 hearing, Maine Medical Association Deputy Executive Vice President Andrew MacLean testified that his organization was “neither for nor against” the bill. MacLean noted how the MMA passed a resolution in 2002 that “was a clear statement in opposition to a single-payer approach,” but a 2008 survey found that 52.3% of members preferred a single-payer “Medicare for all” approach to healthcare reform.

    “Regarding the views of Maine physicians on a single-payer approach to healthcare reform, I think that physicians' views are evolving with more physicians leaning towards a single-payer approach the more they witness the deficits and frustrations of our current system in their daily work,” MacLean testified.

    The association reported in its weekly newsletter that it's resurveying its members on the topic this month.

    Maine's neighbor Vermont is already transitioning toward a single-payer plan. In Massachusetts, former CMS administrator Dr. Don Berwick is running for governor and has expressed interest in studying single-payer for his state.

    Berwick repeated his intention to do so at a Jan. 16 debate.

    “I'm the only candidate who has put single payer on the table in this state. We need to take a look at it,” Berwick said in comments at the debate that were then sent out on his @berwickforMA Twitter account. “Single payer is a route to better care, better health, and a better commonwealth.”

    High court won't review case over California Medicaid cut

    The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the California Medical Association’s request to review its suit seeking to block the state from implementing a 10% provider pay cut for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

    “As the rest of the nation looks to California for an example of health reform success, we simply cannot move forward with a 10% prospective cut to the Medi-Cal program while simultaneously adding new patients to the program," CMA President Dr. Richard Thorp said in a news item on the CMA website. “CMA and our stakeholder partners will look toward reforms that will result in real access to care so that health reform is more than an empty promise of an insurance card."

    Gov. Jerry Brown recently announced his intention to go forward with the cuts, but to drop a plan to also make them retroactive to June 11.

    Follow Andis Robeznieks on Twitter: @MHARobeznieks

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    woman_baby_pregnancy_getty_i_i.jpg
    Tennessee, South Carolina extend healthcare for new moms
    medicaid_WEB_i.jpg
    California opens Medicaid to older unauthorized immigrants
    Sponsored Content
    Daily Dose Newsletter: Sign up to receive a late afternoon weekday roundup of that day’s breaking news and developments in healthcare.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate/Eligibility
      • 100 Most Influential People
      • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
      • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
      • Excellence in Governance
      • Health Care Hall of Fame
      • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
      • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
      • Top 25 Innovators
      • Diversity in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
        • - Leaders to Watch
      • Women in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Women Leaders
        • - Women to Watch
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Leadership Symposium
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Strategic Marketing
        • - Virtual Health
      • Webinars
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Listen
      • Podcast - Next Up
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing