AUGUSTA (AP) – While the Baldacci administration mulls how to cope with newly anticipated curbs on federal aid in several human services areas, legislative Democrats hope to send a message to Washington urging their congressional colleagues to soften the pending blow.

To further dramatize their concerns, the Democrats plan to hold a Hall of Flags news conference Tuesday. It comes just days after House Republicans took an entirely different tack.

Joint resolutions in the Maine Legislature addressed to others are basically symbolic, but that doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally spark controversy. This time, Democrats plan to cast upcoming federal rule changes affecting the state’s Medicaid program as attacks on the sick and the poor.

Baldacci administration officials said last Wednesday that pending federal changes in Medicaid rules could cost the state $45 million through the next 16 months. They also said community losses, including for nonprofit health care providers and schools, could total $141 million over the same period.

By the end of the week, House Minority Leader Josh Tardy, R-Newport, had released a statement asserting that Maine had excessively expanded the Medicaid program – also known as MaineCare -and needs to trim it back to its original intent.

“Maine has been gaming the Medicaid system for years and the music has finally stopped,” Tardy said. “The important thing right now is to make sure we can take care of the program’s originally intended beneficiaries – infants, children and expectant mothers in low-income families. Beyond that, we must acknowledge that we have built MaineCare up to an unsustainable and unaffordable level and begin reeling it back in.”

According to examples cited by Commissioner Brenda Harvey of the state Department of Health and Human Services, under pending rule changes case management services for groups including children in the child protective system would no longer be eligible for federal payment. Harvey also said many rehabilitation services previously covered would no longer receive federal Medicaid funds.

Another upcoming change cited by state officials would disallow federal funding for transportation of school-age students to and from school.

The Baldacci administration already has proposed reducing appropriations for the state Department of Health and Human Services by $61.2 million through June 2009 to keep the General Fund budget in balance, according to a legislative staff analysis.

The Legislative Office of Fiscal and Program Review says proposed changes in federal regulations would affect Medicaid reimbursement for: targeted case management services (effective March 3, 2008); rehabilitation services (effective July, 1, 2008); hospital outpatient physician services (effective July 1, 2008); school-based administrative and transportation services (effective February 26, 2008); and certified seed-funded services (effective May 25, 2008).

The legislative staff analysis said that while the Baldacci administration’s preliminary estimate of the total General Fund net impact over the 2008-2009 biennium is $45.1 million, “the impact on specific programs will vary.”

AP-ES-02-04-08 1710EST