Most Mainers know MaineCare expansion has passed the Legislature and is awaiting the expected Gov. LePage veto. Sadly, there are not enough Republicans who are willing to do what is morally and economically correct and override it. As a result, there will be continued needless loss of life.

Approximately one Mainer dies every three days and one family goes bankrupt daily because of lack of health insurance.

Expansion is favored by 70 percent of Mainers and endorsed by the Maine Medical Association and the Maine Hospital Association — neither group known for their radical ideas.

Republicans cite the discredited Alexander study to back up their claims and ignore the fact that MaineCare spending has not risen since 2009.

They also claim that expansion would allow able-bodied citizens to avoid work and that one-third would be felons. Facts clearly show that the majority are working poor, families with children and the disabled.

They ignore the fact that the public ends up paying for the charity care in hospital emergency rooms that is passed on through increased hospital costs and insurance premiums — something that we are all familiar with.

It is maintained that the state cannot afford the expansion, and that MaineCare is cannibalizing other critical programs, such as education, while the reality is that it is the recent tax cut that predominately favors the wealthy.

Maine is losing more than a million dollars a day in federal subsidies by this obstinate refusal.

Stephen Sokol, Lewiston


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