Maine Governor LePage call to action ~ Medicaid Expansion

Maine Providers Standing Up for Healthcare

For Immediate Release

March 30, 2018

Contact: Julie Schirmer, LCSW and Juliana L’Heureux, RN

                     

***Media Advisory***

Next Tuesday, Healthcare Providers to Hold State House Press Conference Calling on Governor LePage to Comply with Medicaid Expansion Law

Tuesday, April 3^rd is the date prescribed by law for Maine DHHS to submit MaineCare expansion plan to the federal government

AUGUSTA, ME – Next Tuesday, April 3^rd at 12:00 p.m., Maine Providers Standing Up for Healthcare will hold a press conference at the Maine State House to call on Governor Paul LePage to comply with the voter-approved law to expand Medicaid and to inform the people of Maine that the law will not go into effect unless Governor LePage and the Trump Administration take action.

Maine healthcare providers, state legislators – including Speaker of the House Sara Gideon, advocates, and beneficiaries will speak at the press conference to help highlight the stakes for the 70,000 Maine children, families, and patients with chronic illness, including opioid addiction, who are waiting to hear about MaineCare medical and behavioral health coverage.

“Mainers want more access to healthcare, not less, and are no longer willing to wait,” Speaker Sara Gideon said in a statement. “Medicaid expansion will provide affordable care to nearly 70,000 hardworking Mainers who have been struggling to make ends meet. Additionally, this referendum will also bring $500 million dollars into our economy, creating new jobs and increased opportunity, along with the benefits of a healthier workforce. Maine people have waited five years for Medicaid expansion and today marks an important deadline. It’s been a long road, but I’m committed to ensuring that people finally have access to affordable, life-saving healthcare.”

“I wish I could introduce one of my patients to Gov. Paul LePage. This patient is a young man whose situation illustrates how Medicaid can pay huge dividends for individuals, families, communities and the state. He became my primary-care patient last fall, soon after his visit to an emergency department for physical trauma,” Dr. Sam Zager wrote in a recent Portland Press Herald op-ed. “This young man is not simply a Medicaid recipient; he is the anchor of his family. He knows the dignity of both an honest day’s work and having health care. Why won’t Maine’s governor expand Medicaid and guide over 70,000 more Mainers and their families in the direction of health?”

“As a clinical social worker, I am deeply concerned about the delays in the progress toward MaineCare expansion and the implications for the health of our communities. I work with people daily whose lives would dramatically improve if they had health care. Without insurance, medications, and care, a chronic disease can easily become a terminal illness. As a last resort they seek free care and frequent the emergency rooms of critical-care hospitals, many of which are in economic jeopardy,” wrote LCSW Julie Schimer in a recent Forecaster letter to editor. “The people of Maine passed MaineCare expansion by an 18 percent margin. The governor repeatedly states that he will not pursue MaineCare expansion due to lack of funds. The law is clear. The money is there. The health of our communities is in peril the longer we delay.”

WHO:             Maine Providers Standing Up for Healthcare

                        Speakers include:

Ø  Speaker of the House Sara Gideon

Ø  Sam Zager, MD, M.Phil  Family Practice Physician

Ø  Representative Anne Perry, FNP

Ø  Robyn Merrill, MSW, Esq, Maine Equal Justice Partners

Ø  Nicole Clegg, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

WHAT:          Press Conference calling on Governor LePage to comply with the Mainecare expansion law

WHEN:          Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 12:00 p.m.

WHERE:       State House Welcome Center

210 State Street, Augusta ME

            

In November 2017, Maine voters approved the expansion of Medicaid, as provided under the Affordable Care Act, by a margin of 59 to 41 percent. Although Governor LePage vetoed five expansion bills the legislature previously sent him, he is unable to veto this law passed at the ballot. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) must submit a plan by April 3rd to the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to begin enrolling Mainers in July. Based on public statements and letters from the governor and DHHS Commissioner to legislators, we have every reason to believe that this plan will not be submitted. We demand the governor comply with the law.

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