When will the state of Maine understand, if you take care of people when they are young then you don’t have the “long-term,” larger expense until death?

My daughter was divorced two years ago at age 42 with no useable skills. She was very fortunate to obtain MaineCare last year, and they immediately placed her on two daily medications. She got a low-paying job and over the years was able to get two 50-cent raises to bring her hourly wage to $7.

What does Maine do? Remove her from MaineCare because she was now $43 over the limit. So what does she do? She discontinues her medication in order to live. In the future, she will end up in the complete care of Maine and the federal government.

It makes no sense to me. She is only asking for a little help from the state so she can get to the point when she can foot the bill herself, but under these circumstances it will never happen.

She is very hurt when she hears some of her friends laugh when they have “full medical and food stamps.” She says she knows she will be in bad shape if she gets really sick and has to tell the hospital she has no money to pay the bill.

We can spend billions of dollars on other nations around the world, but we can not help the poorest in our own country. We should be ashamed.

John D. Dube, Rumford