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 […]
MaineCare
Posted inLocal & State, 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 […]
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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 […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Hospital debt irks LePage
AUGUSTA (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage on Thursday accused Democrats, including Blaine House rival Libby Mitchell, of doing too little to pay down a nearly $400 million debt that the state owes hospitals for Medicaid services. “Decisions made in Augusta are putting a burden on the backs of Maine hospitals,” LePage said following […]
Posted inLetters
Committed to health care
We thank Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins for their support of the extension of emergency funding for Medicaid, known as MaineCare. In joining Reps. Michael Michaud and Chellie Pingree to support this funding, our entire congressional delegation rose above politics and demonstrated their commitment to health care and the people of Maine. We are […]
Posted inSpecials
Raise your hand if you want to live in a nursing home
Certified Elder Law Attorney In my many years of practice as an elder law attorney, one thing has emerged as a universal desire of nearly everyone I have met: to stay out of the nursing home. When contemplating aging, most people are quite adamant that they wish to stay in their own home and many […]
Posted inOpinion
MaineCare is needed now, more than ever
The insurance program must expand when the economy retracts. More and more people are losing their jobs in Maine and across the country — and with it their employer-provided health insurance. Thankfully, some of these households, primarily those with children, are able to fall back on MaineCare — Maine’s Medicaid program — to protect them […]