PORTLAND — State documents say the MaineCare transportation program cost $5.4 million more to operate in the 2014-15 fiscal year than previous years.

The Portland Press Herald reports the $50.3 million spent in 2014-15 was 12 percent higher than the $44.9 million cost a year earlier. The program came under fire in 2013 for missed rides and poor service.

MaineCare is the state’s name for Medicaid. Patients who don’t have transportation are entitled to receive rides to health care appointments through Medicaid. More than 40,000 Mainers use the service.

A spokesman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services says the cost increased because the number of rides and the cost per ride went up.

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