AUGUSTA — After weeks of wrangling with Democrats over funding for nursing homes, Gov. Paul LePage announced Thursday that Maine’s roughly 100 facilities will get an additional $13.1 million this fiscal year through an arrangement that doesn’t require the Legislature’s approval. The Republican governor’s administration said it identified $4.6 million in savings within the Department of […]
Medicaid
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Sabattus woman gets 3 years in sex abuse case
AUGUSTA — Maine has been increasing the level of Medicaid funding it devotes to home-based care for the disabled since a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave people a choice to live outside institutions. Data provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicates Maine was providing 50.9 percent of Medicaid long-term care money […]
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Posted inBusiness, sj-web
CTS to get extra MaineCare payments through June
PORTLAND — Records show that the company that won’t have its contracts to provide rides for Maine Medicaid patients renewed because of poor performance is scheduled to receive millions of dollars in extra money from the state in its last weeks on the job. Connecticut-based Coordinated Transportation Solutions, whose contracts end this summer, already received […]
Posted inLocal & State
Was LePage right on Medicaid expansion? Republicans, officials divided
AUGUSTA — Officials in the state of Arkansas are saying “not so fast” to claims being made by leaders in Maine’s Republican Party that an expansion of Arkansas’s Medicaid program has led that state to fiscal crisis and Maine was wise not to expand its low-income health care program. Amy Webb, communications director for the […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Barbara Leonard, MPH, and Connie Adler, MD: An ‘unnatural experiment’ on the backs of poorest Mainers
The legislative session recently concluded, and at the end it was decided to leave 32,000 Maine people without access to health insurance coverage because lawmakers did not expand MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program. Whether people agree with the decision or not, it is important to understand the impact it will have in this state. A week […]
Posted inLocal & State
LePage offers last-minute bills for MDEA and nursing home funding
AUGUSTA — In a last-minute move Wednesday, Republican Gov. Paul LePage offered two bills — to fund drug-enforcement expansion and to raise reimbursement rates for nursing homes — for the Legislature to consider when it reconvenes Thursday to take up a long list of veto-override votes. One of the bills being offered by LePage would […]
Posted inLocal & State
State announces new contracts for troubled MaineCare ride program
AUGUSTA — The state will not renew a contract with a company hired to broker rides for MaineCare patients, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Coordinated Transportation Solutions, a Connecticut-based company that employs about 45 call-center workers in Lewiston, will lose its $28 million contract when it expires June 30. CTS can […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Donato Tramuto: Governor’s MaineCare expansion veto bad news for Mainers
I cannot begin to comprehend the failure by the state Senate to overturn Gov. Paul LePage’s reckless decision to veto — for a third time — legislation that would have expanded Medicaid coverage to roughly 70,000 residents. What they have done could cause great harm to not just the roughly 70,000 low-income residents who have, […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine Democrats prepare to present another Medicaid expansion plan
AUGUSTA — The debate over Medicaid expansion has dominated the 126th Legislature, and will continue to do so as the session winds down and lawmakers prepare to head back to their districts. On Thursday night, the last scheduled day of session, House Speaker Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, plans to present a last-ditch effort based on […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine Democrats continue Medicaid expansion push
AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine Democrats are advancing a new bill to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 70,000 low-income residents under the federal health care law, but its chance of getting past Republican Gov. Paul LePage is slim. The bill sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Troy Jackson of Allagash was given initial approval in a 21-14 […]