Paul LePage on Health Care

COVID: Spoke against shutdown while quarantined in car

Almost eradicated public health nursing in Maine

Budgetary limits on Medicaid expansion

We must fund Medicaid expansion in a way that is sustainable and ongoing. Therefore, my principles are as follows:
1. No tax increases on Maine families or businesses.
2. No use of the Budget Stabilization Fund (which we call the "Rainy Day Fund").
3. No use of other one-time funding mechanisms--known as budget gimmicks.
4. Full funding for vulnerable Mainers who are still waiting for services, and no reduction of services or funding for our nursing homes or people with disabilities.

MaineCare recipients contribute to statewide health coverage

More competition in health insurance and health care markets

Loosen "one-size-fits-all" approach to Medicaid.

As Governors, we are writing to you regarding the excessive constraints placed on us by healthcare-related federal mandates. One of our biggest concerns continues to be the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which prevent states from managing their Medicaid programs for their unique Medicaid populations. We ask for your immediate action to remove these MOE requirements so that states are once again granted the flexibility to control their program costs and make necessary budget decisions.

Every Governor, Republican and Democrat, will face unprecedented budget challenges in the coming months. Efforts to regulate state operations impose greater uncertainty on our budgets for oncoming years and create a perfect storm when coupled with the current state of the economy.

Health and education are the primary cost drivers for most state budgets. Medicaid enrollment is up. Revenues are down. States are unable to afford the current Medicaid program, yet our hands are tied by the MOE requirements. The effect of the federal requirements is unconscionable; the federal requirements force Governors to cut other critical state programs, such as education, in order to fund a "one-size-fits-all" approach to Medicaid. Again, we ask you to lift the MOE requirements so that states may make difficult budget decisions in ways that reflect the needs of their residents.