Lawmakers query LePage for facts, plan for shortfall
Democrats release detailed questions to DHHS on budget
AUGUSTA – Democratic members of the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee provided the LePage Administration with an expansive list of questions probing for the facts behind the shortfall and for the administration’s plan for the impact of its cuts. The committee will begin work sessions on the budget tomorrow.
“We have extensive questions for the administration. Before we can discuss policy, the administration needs to prove the accuracy of their projections,” said Senator Dawn Hill, D-York, the Senate Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “After listening to three days of public hearings on how the Governor’s plan will put lives on the line and jeopardize our economy, it is critical to hear what the Governor’s plan is for so many Maine people. Cutting programs will not eliminate the need. Instead, it will simply shift the costs to our cities and towns, local hospitals and private insurance holders.”
Hundreds of Maine people packed the State House last week to provide testimony against the governor’s proposed budget cuts. The budget proposes to close a claimed $220 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) by taking away health care for more than 65,000 Maine people and dramatically reducing critical services, like prescription drugs for the elderly. The proposal also nearly eliminates the Fund for a Healthy Maine, funding for assisted living facilities, and Head Start.
The cuts will result in the loss of at least 4,400 jobs statewide, according to the Maine Center for Economic Policy. The cut in funds would also trigger losses in federal dollars, resulting in a total removal of $500 million from the state’s health care economy.
“We want to know what the nature of the problem really is and what the governor’s plan is for the devastating fallout from his cuts,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, the lead House Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “We’ve heard a lot of misleading information from the governor, but now it is time to get the facts that will better inform our solution.”
Lawmakers submitted the list of more than 50 questions to DHHS on Friday following the public hearing. The detailed questions focus on the economic and public health impact of the cuts.
The Democratic committee members asked the administration to provide details on how many Maine people will be impacted by the closure of assisted living facilities; how many will be eligible for nursing home care; what is the plan for those individuals who will not qualify for nursing home care; and how many jobs will be lost as a result of closing statewide assisted living facilities. In addition, lawmakers requested the amount of money hospitals will lose statewide as a result of the cuts and what the state’s current emergency room costs are and its projected future costs?
Other key questions included, has the administration done an economic impact analysis or requested one from the Bureau of Insurance on how much this will raise private insurance costs for taxpayers with health insurance as well as the costs to hospitals? Has the administration done an analysis of the anticipated rise in the state’s uninsured rate?
Democrats also asked the administration to provide an accounting of how many federal matching dollars will be lost as result of the cuts, what the impact will be on the local economy, and how many waivers of federal requirements may be needed to make the cuts.
The Appropriations Committee will meet with the commissioner and staff from the Department of Health and Human Services tomorrow to hear answers on questions about the shortfall analysis that was presented to the committee last week.
Committee members also asked to hear from the fraud unit in DHHS, after the governor claimed that the shortfall was partially caused by “welfare” fraud. However, the department’s own analysis of the shortfall made no mention of any fraud-related costs in the state’s anti-poverty programs.
The Appropriations and Health and Human Services committees will meet for a work session tomorrow and again on Jan. 3 before lawmakers return for the Second Session of the 125th Legislature, which begins on Jan. 4.