EDITORIAL: Mainers voted for health care. They deserve more than LePage’s obstruction.
With the expansion, about 80,000 low-income parents and adults without children will gain coverage under MaineCare, the state's version of Medicaid. An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that the majority of those who are eligible for the expanded coverage live in rural areas, and a majority are working yet struggling to get by.
Tuesday's vote shows that Mainers value access to affordable health insurance and understand that covering more people is good for not only the newly insured but also for the rest of the state.
A big roadblock remains, however.
Ever the sore loser, LePage announced Wednesday morning that he would not implement the expansion voters had approved just hours earlier. He again cited the lies -- that expansion would ruin the state budget and take care away from the elderly and disabled -- that were a cornerstone of the failed anti-expansion campaign.
Under the Maine Constitution, the governor has no power to veto a measure passed by the voters. In fact, under the
This puts the onus on lawmakers to go around LePage and fund the voter-approved expansion when they convene next year. Lawmakers have approved Medicaid expansion five times and LePage vetoed it five times, leading to Tuesday's referendum vote.
LePage did leave himself some wiggle room by saying he wouldn't implement the expansion "until it has been fully funded by the Legislature at the levels DHHS has calculated, and I will not support increasing taxes on
The expansion can be implemented without increasing taxes, raiding the rainy day fund or reducing services, so that part is taken care of. As for the funding figures from the
Accurate cost figures come from the nonpartisan
Medicaid expansion, Question 2, passed easily despite a spate of scare tactics and disinformation from LePage and others who opposed it. Robocalls, including one from singer
Up to this point,
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