AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage and legislative Democrats, already at odds over the state budget and repaying a debt to hospitals, found something new Thursday to disagree on: a letter from federal officials about expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
The letter from a Department of Health and Human Services official, which was received last week, says the department has tentatively determined that childless adults would be eligible for 100 percent federal funding for the three calendar years starting in 2014, and that the federal match gradually declines, reaching 90 percent in 2020.
Democrats said the letter validates their push to expand Medicaid to about 70,000 Maine residents with full federal funding under the national health care law. They said the letter, from Cindy Mann, director of DHHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is the latest in a series confirming the federal pledge.
“The letter could not have been more clear,” said House Speaker Mark Eves of North Berwick.
“Lives are on the line, now is the time to act,” said Senate President Justin Alfond, D-Portland. “We have received assurance after assurance from the feds. You can’t get much better than 100 percent.”
Republicans said the letter confirms bad news that expansion of Medicaid comes at a cost to the state. House GOP Leader Ken Fredette of Newport said the letter confirms that upon expansion, the government would pay for only 62 percent of the cost of covering 15,500 able-bodied parents who fall between 100 and 133 percent of the federal poverty level and would otherwise not be eligible for Medicaid. Fredette said this would cost Maine taxpayers roughly $18 million per year on an ongoing basis.
LePage, who is also opposed to Medicaid expansion, had asked the government to pick up 100 percent of Maine’s costs of expanding Medicaid for 10 years, if Maine agrees to the expansion. LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said the governor was disappointed but not surprised the letter makes clear that the government cannot authorize such a request.
Maine would only get a portion of federal funding to pay for non-disabled parents who were given coverage during the state’s last expansion of welfare, the administration said.
“I’m disappointed that the federal government will penalize Maine for our previous generosity,” LePage said in a statement.
But Bennett said the administration was heartened by the government’s willingness to work with the state to restructure its welfare system.
Eves dismissed talk of overhauling the system as “a convenient excuse” to delay expansion of Medicaid.
Democrats and Republicans are already at odds over other key issues that remain to be settled before the scheduled June 19 adjournment. Democrats demand that income tax cuts enacted in 2011 must be delayed in order to balance the state budget, a move Republicans refuse to agree to. LePage and fellow Republicans also oppose linking Medicaid expansion with a bill to repay hospitals $484 million. The governor has vetoed a bill to repay the hospitals for past Medicaid services because it included a Democratic-backed amendment to expand Medicaid.
A separate, stand-alone bill to expand Medicaid moved forward Thursday as the Health and Human Services Committee voted 10-4 vote to accept federal funds for the expansion.
