Gov. Paul LePage is continuing to fight Medicaid expansion in court, filing another motion to delay the case only five weeks before Gov.-elect Janet Mills will take over, reverse course and implement the expansion. As a result, LePage’s latest legal move may do little more than further delay access to health insurance for the 70,000 […]
Medicaid
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Judge orders LePage administration to expand MaineCare
Gov. Paul LePage plans to appeal a judge’s order that his administration move forward with a voter-approved expansion of MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid system. In an order issued Wednesday, Kennebec County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy detailed seven steps the Maine Department of Health and Human Services must take to comply with the expansion law, […]
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Posted inElection 2018, Local & State, News
Janet Mills says she’ll implement Medicaid expansion immediately
Gov.-elect Janet Mills showed up at the Medicaid expansion lawsuit court hearing in Maine Superior Court on Wednesday, the morning after winning a decisive victory in the gubernatorial election. Mills said she was “here to listen” to the lawsuit, where activist group Maine Equal Justice Partners is suing the LePage administration for failing to implement Medicaid expansion. Mills, […]
Posted inLocal & State
Maine directs much of emergency opioid money to treatment
PORTLAND (AP) — Maine has directed most of the first wave of federal emergency money to target the opioid crisis on treatment, according to an Associated Press analysis, similar to other states that have not expanded Medicaid. States are taking very different approaches to spending their initial allotments under the 21st Century Cures Act grant program, according […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Trump picks Maine's Mary Mayhew to manage Medicaid
Former Maine health commissioner and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mary Mayhew has been tapped by the Trump administration to lead Medicaid, the health insurance program that covers more than 70 million low-income Americans. Seema Verma, head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a statement Monday that Mayhew has been named deputy […]
Posted inLocal & State
How each candidate for governor would tackle Medicaid expansion, the opioid crisis and protecting Maine’s most vulnerable
Health care policy is a frequent topic on the Maine gubernatorial campaign trail, with issues such as Medicaid expansion and the opioid crisis turning up in campaign literature, advertisements, on the stump and at debates. Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion by a 59 to 41 percent margin in November 2017, which would make 70,000 low-income […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Judge hears Medicaid expansion case
A Superior Court judge heard arguments Thursday about whether the LePage administration is obligated to expand Medicaid without funding from the Legislature, even as the state continues to turn away thousands of applicants for coverage. In the latest round of legal wrangling over Medicaid expansion, lawyers for Maine Equal Justice Partners and Gov. Paul LePage […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Advocacy group makes new legal move to block LePage’s efforts to reject Medicaid expansion
An advocacy group for low-income Mainers that’s suing the LePage administration went to court this week to try to erase any reference to Gov. Paul LePage’s request to federal officials to reject Medicaid expansion. In early September, LePage filed a form with Medicaid – called a State Plan Amendment – that’s typically a routine document […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Paul LePage says he will deny Medicaid applicants until expansion is funded
AUGUSTA (AP) — Republican Gov. Paul LePage said he’ll continue denying applications under a voter-approved Medicaid expansion until lawmakers provide funding under his terms. Pro-Medicaid expansion advocates who are suing to force Maine to roll-out voter-approved Medicaid expansion have encouraged Mainers to apply for Medicaid expansion this summer. But LePage said the plan is to deny […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Maine files documents to expand Medicaid and a request to reject it
The LePage administration on Tuesday submitted required documents to the federal government to expand Medicaid to 70,000 Mainers, but there’s a catch. Gov. Paul LePage – an expansion opponent – is asking federal officials to deny the application. “I strongly encourage CMS (U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) to reject the State Plan Amendment that may […]