MAYHEW WITHHELD CRITICAL INFORMATION DURING BUDGET PROCESS

Appropriations Democrats concerned “trust has been broken”

AUGUSTA—Today, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Commissioner Mary Mayhew was questioned by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee in response her revelation that a “computer glitch” allowed 19,000 ineligible MaineCare recipients to continue receiving health insurance. During the two hour hearing, Commissioner Mayhew admitted knowing about the “glitch” as far back as January 2012. During that time, AFA had ongoing meetings with Commissioner Mayhew about the DHHS budget.

“The incompetence and mismanagement are shameful. Critical information was withheld from us at a time when we were making tough decisions about health care for our most vulnerable—the elderly, the disabled and children,” said Representative Peggy Rotundo, the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “We spent weeks pouring over numbers that weren’t matching up and suspected there were problems, yet, Commissioner Mayhew repeatedly assured us the numbers were fine.”

According to monthly tracking by the Office of Fiscal and Program Review (OFPR), a spike of about 20,000 people occurred June 2011. During the hearing, committee members questioned Mayhew on why she and her department ignored “red flags” from state audit findings and the Office of MaineCare services. Members also sought an understanding from Mayhew as to why she did not disclose the financial error prior to the committee and the full legislature passing the 2012 HHS budget. Mayhew said she wanted a “comprehensive understanding” of the issue before discussing it with the Committee.

“Imagine if a CEO knowingly withheld critical information from its board of directors and its shareholders? That would be unacceptable,” said Senator Dawn Hill of York. “And it is unacceptable that lawmakers were kept in the dark. The administration allowed us to pass a budget that was knowingly based on a false premise. There’s a level of trust that needs to exist and that has now been broken.”

The committee expects to reconvene next week to discuss next steps in resolving the many questions that remain unanswered and how to move forward with a 2013 HHS budget.