Maine Writer

Its about people and issues I care about.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Topsham, MAINE, United States

My blogs are dedicated to the issues I care about. Thank you to all who take the time to read something I've written.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Maine Medicaid was poorly served under Mary Mayhew

Severe cuts to the Medicaid budget led to staff shortages and, as a result, vulnerable children were at risk for abuse.  Sadly, we only know about the people who suffered and didn't hear from those who did not report their adverse incidents.  Now, Mary Mayhew will bring her do nothing style of care to Washington.  God please spare Americans the outcome of her Medicaid oversight.
Mary Mayhew was a cruel DHHS Commissioner in Maine but Maine Writer suspects that she and Kellyanne Conway (aka, Cruella de Vil) will get along great. 
This report in Rewire.News is by Katelyn Burns

The Trump administration announced the appointment Monday of Mary Mayhew, the former Maine commissioner of Health and Human Services, to head the federal Medicaid program. The decision shocked Maine residents and health care advocates who pointed to Mayhew’s long history of advocating for and executing deep cuts in social safety net programs and her opposition to expanding Medicaid access in the state.

“From the perspective of someone who thinks that we should be providing people with more health care, not less, it’s hard to imagine someone less suited for this job than former commissioner Mayhew,” said David Farmer, former communications director for Mainers for Healthcare, in an interview with Rewire.News. Mainers for Health Care ran a successful ballot initiative last year to expand Medicaid in the state under the Affordable Care Act, but the expansion has since been stonewalled by Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

“I can’t imagine anyone who would bring the same mix of ideological cruelty and history of mismanagement to a high-level job like this,” Farmer said. “The only way that Mary Mayhew would be a candidate for this position is if your goal is to dismantle the Medicaid program.”


Mayhew, who ran Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) until May 2017, finished a distant third in the state’s Republican primary for governor. 

Under Paul LePage—a vocal opponent of Medicaid expansion who has continuously blocked its implementation in the state—she oversaw massive cuts to programs like Medicaid and food stamps. “She’s not just hostile to Medicaid; when she was part of Governor LePage’s administration in Maine, she was front and center in that administration’s quest to burn down pretty much the entirety of the social safety net,” said Rebecca Vallas, vice president of the Poverty to Prosperity program at the Center for American Progress. “She was a vocal proponent of taking nutrition assistance through food stamps away from people who were trying to find work or couldn’t get enough hours at their job.”

Labels: , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home