PORTLAND (AP) – Maine could lose $75 million under a proposal to tweak the federal funding formula for Medicaid, the health program for the poor that served 300,000 people statewide last year.
The state could lose far more under proposals to alter the entire funding stream. MaineCare, the program that consumes about $2 billion a year in federal and state funding, could face drastic cuts if the funding were to change from a guaranteed entitlement to a limited grant, according to health-care advocates.
“We believe that what is about to happen this year constitutes by far the most significant threat to the program,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group for health care.
Bush’s proposal will be announced with his next budget on Feb. 7. But the subject is expected to come up during confirmation hearings on Wednesday for Mike Leavitt, who was nominated as secretary of health and human services.
Leading up to those hearings, Maine’s congressional delegation has voiced opposition to any cuts in the program.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, says she has consistently opposed any proposal to cap federal spending or move to block grants for Medicaid.
“At a time when many states are raising taxes in order to meet their state Medicaid obligation, it would be devastating if the federal government restricted its payments,” Collins said.
Medicaid is of particular interest in Maine because the state has a generally older and poorer population than the rest of the country.
“Any kind of cuts that are proposed either in the formula for contributions from the federal government, or the block granting, becomes especially troubling and problematic,” said U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and a member of the Finance Committee that monitors the program.
Maine’s enrollment in Medicaid grew the fourth-fastest in the country from 1997 to 2002, and the state spends the largest portion of its budget on Medicaid in New England.
“Medicaid is a very poor payer in Maine,” said Chuck Gill, a spokesman for Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. “If anything happens at the federal level, it will hurt Maine and every other state.”
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