LEWISTON – Federal rule changes concerning health care for the elderly, disabled, mentally ill and school-aged children could hit Maine especially hard, service providers said Wednesday.

Representatives from Community Concepts, SeniorsPlus, Tri-County Mental Health and Head Start gathered in Lewiston City Hall on Wednesday morning to decry the Medicaid rule changes.

“We’ve seen cuts before, but we’ve never seen anything that hits as hard or is as widespread across social service agencies,” said Matthew Smith, CEO of Community Concepts Inc. Smith estimated the rule change would mean service cuts of $181 million in Maine.

The changes are designed to trim the federal budget deficit by $3.3 billion over five years by reducing the types of services paid by Medicaid. Congress had tried to delay those changes, adding a moratorium on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program legislation it approved late in 2007. President George W. Bush vetoed the legislation and the moratorium. A Jan. 23 effort in Congress to override that veto failed by 14 votes.

The new rules take effect in March, giving local social service agencies little time to prepare. They are asking Maine’s congressional delegates and state legislators to push for a new moratorium.

“This is huge,” said Estelle Rubinstein of Head Start Androscoggin County. Agencies like hers learned of the cuts during a statewide presentation last week by the Maine departments of Health and Human Services and Education.

Smith said the cuts will mean fewer people with disabilities will qualify for care.

Pam Allen of SeniorsPlus said it will mean the reduction in home care for many senior citizens. Without that help, many will be forced out of their homes.

“Where will these people go?” Allen asked. “I suggest that many will end up lined up in front of nursing homes. Some of them will come back to their families, and we already know how burdened those families can be.”