AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Lawmakers are considering a bill to require random drug testing for MaineCare recipients. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Thomas Saviello of Wilton, would suspend benefits for MaineCare recipients who test positive for scheduled drugs. The bill was reviewed Monday by the Health and Human Services Committee, which also took up […]
MaineCare
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine lawmakers take up welfare changes in budget
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A crowd of demonstrators filled a State House hall to protest Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed cuts in welfare and MaineCare programs, changes the administration says are due in large part to the end of federal stimulus funding and added enrollments. A couple of hundred demonstrators outside the governor’s office chanted “Don’t […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Dora Mills removed as MaineCare med director
Dr. Dora Anne Mills, who was Maine’s top doctor as head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention for nearly 15 years, was fired from her new job Wednesday, sources say. Mills, who was medical director for MaineCare, declined to comment Wednesday. “I’m surprised,” said Ed Miller of the American Lung Association in […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, River Valley
Rumford Hospital to be reimbursed for much of MaineCare costs
RUMFORD — Rumford Hospital Chief Executive Officer John Welsh was pleased that the state is scheduled to begin repaying overdue MaineCare reimbursements, a plan that will provide the local facility with some cash reserves and a chance to replace some critical care equipment. The hospital is one of three dozen statewide that is scheduled to […]
Posted inOur View
Anti-smoking bills will draw little support
Four ideas have been floated in the state Legislature to reduce smoking rates in Maine, most of them well-intentioned but unlikely to pass. The most controversial bill was crafted by Sen. Thomas Saviello, R-Franklin County, that would deny benefits to MaineCare recipients who smoke. Saviello proposed the bill at the behest of an unnamed constituent […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Bill would deny MaineCare to smokers
AUGUSTA (AP) — The assault on tobacco use is resuming on several fronts in the State House, including denying benefits for MaineCare recipients who smoke and restricting smoking in private clubs. Details of those and other bills are not yet fleshed out, but sponsors say they want to reduce Maine’s smoking rate and drive down […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Our picks for the top ten news stories of the year
1. The race for governor in Maine was so close, candidate Paul LePage had to wait until the morning after Election Day to find out he had won. The Waterville native defeated independent Eliot Cutler and three other candidates to become the first Republican to be elected Maine governor since John McKernan in 1990. LePage, […]
Posted inOur View
DHHS fails to find fraud, loses millions
First, there was Richardson Hollow, at one time the state’s largest in-home provider for people with mental illness. The Lewiston firm went bust in 2007, leaving taxpayers and former employees unpaid. Meanwhile, two local agencies filed suit against owner Linda Hertell, claiming she set up a series of intertwining shell companies designed to keep her […]
Posted inOxford Hills
Oxford Hills woman pleads to $4 million MaineCare fraud
PARIS — A Harrison woman who owns businesses and property in Norway pleaded guilty Friday to stealing $4 million from MaineCare. Dawn Cummings Solomon, 42, admitted to charges she, through her Living Independence Network Corp., overbilled the state for hours and expenses since January 2006, according to Michael Miller, director of the Attorney General’s Healthcare […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Unpaid patient bills, cost of caring for the poor increasing
LEWISTON — As the nation’s economic recovery slogs on, the number of patients refusing to pay their hospital bills and the amount of free care given to the poor at Maine hospitals has risen to unheard-of levels, with the losses in some cases outpacing even the controversial debt owed hospitals by the state. Portland’s Maine […]