First Day on the job- Governor Janet Mills signs Medicaid Expansion

Congratulations and thank you Governor Janet Mills!

MaineWriter- Health care was a major voter issue in the 2018 election.  Governor Mills was right to keep her promise to implement the Medicaid Expansion, on the first day of her administration.

Maine's new governor had vowed to expand Medicaid on 'day one' of her administration, making more than 70,000 Mainers eligible for health insurance.

Maine Governor Janet Mills taking the oath of office administered by President of the Maine Senate Troy Jackson

By Joe Lawlor PPH

AUGUSTA, Me- Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order on Thursday, to begin implementing Medicaid expansion, which she had vowed to do on “day one” of her administration. 

More than 70,000 Mainers will be eligible for Medicaid health insurance under the expansion. Mills was sworn into office on Wednesday evening, and signed “Executive Order 1” on Thursday.

“More than a year ago, the people of Maine voted to expand Medicaid. Today, my administration is taking the long-awaited steps to fulfill their will,” Mills, a Democrat, said in a statement. 

“I am directing my administration to begin implementing Medicaid expansion as quickly and as efficiently as possible so that we can help more Maine people access the health care they need.”

Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion by a 59 to 41 percent margin in a November, 2017 referendum, but former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, an expansion opponent, refused to implement it. A lawsuit that attempted to force the LePage administration to implement the expansion won in court, but LePage dragged out the process, leaving implementation to Mills.

According to a news release, the executive order “directs the Department of Health and Human Services to make changes to process the applications of Mainers seeking health care coverage under Medicaid expansion, including amending the filings of the previous administration to reflect the accurate date of implementation and to seek the earliest possible approvals as allowed under the expansion act.”

Jeanne Lambrew, who was nominated by Mills to be health and human services commissioner, said in a statement, “Governor Mills and I share a commitment to ensuring that the Department of Health and Human Services achieves its core mission to safeguard the health and well-being of Maine children and families. The Executive Order is a critical first step in achieving that mission,” Lambrew said in a statement. “Full implementation of Medicaid expansion will take time and the collective cooperation of our health system, but with Governor Mills’ leadership, access to affordable health care coverage for Mainers is now on the horizon.”

Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, the group that campaigned for the referendum and sued the LePage administration for failure to implement it, said having an administration that supports the goals of Medicaid expansion “feels lighter and more hopeful.”

“The implications are significant for people’s lives,” Merrill said. “They won’t be delaying the care they need, like they did when they were uninsured. Medicaid expansion is going to become a reality, finally. It’s taken a long time.”