It is shameful and cowardly that Gov. Paul LePage and the commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services have proposed a cut of 65,000 low-income/elderly citizens from Maine­Care — cutting mental health, dental, physical therapy and other services that have been determined to be medically necessary. Worse yet, providing no alternatives for the citizens who need those services.

The residents of those facilities and those on MaineCare didn’t create the financial crisis. The DHHS, the administration and the Legislature did.

All this proposal will do is shift the burden to other providers to bear the cost — hospitals, community clinics, nursing homes, towns/cities, taxpayers and every Mainer who pays for his own health insurance.

Have state officials considered what the cut would do to the employees and their families who will lose their jobs as many of the nonprofit agencies funded by MaineCare and federal funds close their doors?

So much for the new friendly business environment in Maine and decreasing unemployment.

I have no doubt that there are places to cut the MaineCare budget, but to find out where those cuts should be made will take an agency that has the financial know-how to do that. Given DHHS’ past performance, I don’t think officials there have the knowledge or expertise to do it without close oversight by the Legislature and outside consultants who know how to budget.

MaineCare clients should not be penalized for the financial mismanagement of the current and past DHHS administrations.

Gerald Frenette, Lewiston