Posted inMaine, sj-web

Federal court rejects Maine’s Medicaid cuts

AUGUSTA — About 6,000 19- and 20-year-old low-income Mainers will continue to receive health insurance coverage under MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, after a federal court ruling against ’s administration on Monday. Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew said in a prepared statement that “judges have gone out of their way […]

Posted inRiver Valley, The Franklin Journal

Retirement home to begin repaying West Paris

WEST PARIS — Ledgeview Living Center has agreed to begin repaying nearly  $25,000 in back taxes, interest and fees owed to the town. The 81-bed assisted living facility is expected to pay an undisclosed amount in monthly installments starting in September, according to a deal struck with Town Manager John White.  The agreement appears to […]

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Posted inLewiston-Auburn

Mainers on Medicare saving millions on drugs

More than 5,300 elderly or disabled Mainers have saved more than $4 million in drug costs during the first half of this year as the federal government closes a Medicare coverage gap, dubbed the “donut hole,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said this week. Since it was implemented in 2006, Medicare’s drug plan has […]

Posted inBusiness, sj-web

Maine Medicare expenditures below national average

Maine hospitals are touting new data released by the federal government showing the state delivers health care to seniors more cost effectively than most of its counterparts. A Maine health care cost and quality organization, however, urged examining the numbers from a global perspective. On Monday, Medicare released a trove of data aimed at making […]

Posted inLetters

In rebuttal, G. D’Augustine: Headline misleading

The lead article in the Sun Journal April 10, “Some Maine doctors paid millions by Medicare in ’12,” represents an embarrassment to serious journalists. While technically true, the initial thrust of the article suggests a completely false premise: that some Maine doctors are taking home millions of dollars in Medicare payments. It’s not until the […]

Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine

Medicare releases doctor pay, procedures for 2012

LEWISTON — A local doctor billed Medicare for more than $2.3 million in 2012 for work that, at first look, appeared to include giving 110,000 shots. Rheumatologist Robert Sylvester was the highest Medicare-paid doctor in Maine that year, according to data released Wednesday that detail payments made to more than 880,000 practitioners across the country. […]

Posted inNation / World, sj-web

Medicare releases list of provider payments

Data: List of Maine health care providers WASHINGTON — Medicare paid a tiny group of doctors $3 million or more apiece in 2012. One got nearly $21 million. Those are among the findings of an Associated Press analysis of physician data released Wednesday by the Obama administration, part of a move to open the books […]

Posted inLetters

E. Field: A fair chance at a decent life

Some politicians say this country is divided into “takers” and “makers.” Americans on Social Security and Medicare are not takers. They have paid into those programs. Poor people may not pay income taxes, but they pay state and local taxes. Big businesses are huge takers. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, companies such as Google […]