On Feb. 23, the Legislature passed a bill to address the 2012 budget shortfall at the Department of Health and Human Services. The budget bill was the result of months of negotiation between members of both parties and both political branches, and it reflects our shared goals of fiscal responsibility and maintaining help for Maine’s […]
MaineCare
Posted inOur View
MaineCare: There’s plenty of outrage to go around
When Gov. Paul LePage first proposed cutting $221 million from the state’s Medicaid rolls, he said we had been generous to a fault. We had, over the years, added benefits that we could no longer afford. As the legislative debate heated up, along with the governor’s temper, the chief executive took a different tack. “Maine […]
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Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Health providers gird for DHHS cuts under compromise deal
Lawmakers may have reached a bipartisan deal to close a budget gap at the Department of Health and Human Services, but health care providers are still bracing for deep cuts. Members of the Legislature’s budget committee pushed back against Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to drop coverage and tighten eligibility for some MaineCare beneficiaries, but left […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Gov. LePage attacks bipartisan budget proposal
AUGUSTA — A bipartisan budget package aimed at erasing a looming $221 million shortfall is “full of gimmicks” and lacks structural changes needed over the long haul to make state Medicaid services affordable to taxpayers, Gov. Paul LePage charged Monday. LePage lobbed heavy criticism at the Appropriations Committee, which has been working for weeks on […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Top 5 percent of MaineCare recipients account for more than half the program’s cost
Lillian Davis spends many of her nights at an Orono nursing home wide awake. Deceived by advanced dementia, the 83-year-old loses sleep for days on end tidying imagary messes in her room or talking to visitors who aren’t there. Sometimes, the nurses push her wheelchair under a table and lock the brakes so she can’t […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Oxford Hills
Experts: MaineCare cuts will hurt Oxford County residents
NORWAY — Local service providers have warned that Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed MaineCare cuts could hurt many residents of Oxford County. “There’s a whole array of things that the governor has proposed that will affect the people of Oxford County,” Joan Churchill, director of development for Community Concepts, said. The cuts have been suggested as […]
Posted inLetters
K. Richardson: Entire industry at risk
Maine legislators are making decisions about severe cuts in MaineCare’s contribution to the health care industry in Maine, with a deadline of the end of January. It is unfortunate that there has not been time or opportunity to have more of a public conversation or a deeper look into the wider implication of the effect […]
Posted inOur View
Stop-smoking programs pay quick dividends
We’ve always known that smoking cessation programs pay their way, but the benefits were always thought to come slowly and over time. Still, employers, insurers and government agencies have all pushed cessation as a way to eventually save money. But a new study says there is only one thing wrong about this assumption: The savings […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
LePage plan would cut MaineCare coverage for families making more than $22,350
AUGUSTA, Maine — The viability of the Dirigo Health program is closely entwined with Gov. Paul LePage’s plan to overhaul MaineCare, lawmakers learned Thursday. The governor’s proposal, designed to close an estimated $220 million gap in the Department of Health and Human Services budget, calls for axing MaineCare coverage for about 19,000 childless adults in […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
9,000 sign petition opposing MaineCare cuts
AUGUSTA, Maine — A mental health counselor hand-delivered to lawmakers on Wednesday a petition with the signatures of nearly 9,000 people who oppose Gov. Paul LePage’s planned MaineCare cuts. Jennifer Lunden, executive director of the Center for Creative Healing in Portland, gave the 917-page document to Rep. Pat Flood, R-Winthrop, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Appropriations […]