Maine medical providers and citizens request Senator Susan Collins to stop cuts to Medicaid

To anyone who reads this blog, please listen to me....all Republicans have people in their families who have used the Medicaid benefit including Senator Susan Collins.  In other words, Republicans use the Medicaid benefit as much as any other qualified group.  

I have signed on with the Homecare Advocates of Maine (HAME) to ask Senator Susan Collins to oppose cuts to the Medicaid program proposed in the Trump budget bill. Republicans want to use cuts to Medicaid to offset tax cuts planned for billionaires.  In fact, Republicans know the passage of this bill will destroy their Congressional majorities in the 2026, mid year election but it does not matter, because they also know how, even a Democratic majority, will never reverse the tax cuts, after they are passed. 

Main stream media must ask Republicans about who among them have had family members who received Medicaid benefits.  Be sure to ask former Maine Governor Paul LePage the question because he will be forthcoming, as a Republican, he will admit how many of the 11 children who were in his family have been Medicaid beneficiaries. Makes no sense for hypocritical Republicans to cut Medicaid when so many Americans  need it and hospitals provide care using this federal and state funded benefit.

Senator Susan Collins sign on letter from Healthcare Advocates for Maine:

Dear Senator Collins,

 

We are members of the inter professional healthcare advocacy organization Healthcare Advocates for Maine (HAME), formerly known as Maine Providers Standing Up for Healthcare. Our members represent the diversity of our state: we have members from every healthcare discipline, across all levels of training, and from all our counties. We work in mental health, primary care, specialty care, law, and more. What unites us all is our passion for healthcare and protecting our patients.

 

That is why we must speak out against current plans to gut Medicaid across the country. Most Medicaid funding in Maine comes from the federal government. Any cuts to that funding will devastate healthcare in Maine. Almost 400,000 Mainers rely on Medicaid for their healthcare, 20% of our total population! And on top of that, about ¾ of Medicaid recipients are currently working. The proposed work reporting system would eliminate rural workers without internet access. It would punish seasonal workers and those who work for small businesses with irregular schedules - many of our citizens who cannot otherwise afford healthcare. If the political push for work requirements is impossible to resist, please consider implementing work requirements that help people get work – such as was done in Montana. 

 

Any cuts to Medicaid will hurt our state. Medicaid covers primary care, preventive services (like colonoscopies and mammograms), maternal health (like labor and delivery), and mental health. Medicaid funds rural and community clinics to ensure they stay open even with increasing needs and demands for healthcare across the state.  These cuts would definitely threaten the financial stability and existence of our rural hospitals.

 

We are not exaggerating when we say, as hundreds of health professionals across the state, decreasing funding for Medicaid in Maine, or making it more difficult to access, will kill our patients and community members. They rely on these services. 

 

Senator Collins, we urge you to protect Medicaid. Our organization was founded in 2017 to advocate for healthcare; our members met with you in your office in 2017 to advocate for healthcare protections and to protect the affordable care act. We implore you again to protect the people of this state. Oppose any restrictions applied to Medicaid, like work requirements, that will put health insurance and healthcare further out of reach for our patients and families.  

You must not let these cuts hurt Mainers.

 

Sincerely,  Healthcare Advocates for Maine