MPBN: Maine Democrats Challenge Medicaid Cut Plan
In a letter to federal officials, two Democratic Maine lawmakers dispute Gov. Paul LePage’s claims that the cuts were needed to forestall a budget deficit.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Maine Democratic legislators are challenging claims made by the Republican governor in his request to federal officials to allow Medicaid cuts.
Sen. Dawn Hill and Rep. Peggy Rotundo on Wednesday disputed Gov. Paul LePage’s claims that the cuts were needed in order to forestall a budget deficit. A federal waiver is needed in order for LePage to implement cuts in Medicaid affecting non-disabled, non-pregnant adults, people ages 19 and 20, and people in the Medicare Savings Program.
In their letter to federal Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Hill and Rotundo say that there is no budget deficit and the state ended fiscal 2012 with a $20 million budget surplus. The lawmakers, members of the Appropriations Committee, also point to forecasts that re-projected state revenues upward by $50 million.