Maine legal battle keeping Medicaid expansion in limbo to stretch into October
Last month, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered the state to submit an expansion plan to the federal government. While the
At the same time, the high court sent unanswered, core legal questions back to
Little was decided by the end of those proceedings, but on Friday, expansion proponents withdrew a motion asking Murphy to hold the state in contempt of the high court's order, which was originally filed because of LePage's letter asking the federal government to reject the plan.
They were assuaged after the department filed a letter with the federal
Murphy will likely have to rule on that and the key legal question in the case -- whether the LePage administration can implement a law without dedicated funding from the Legislature. The governor successfully vetoed a start-up funding plan from the Legislature earlier this year.
Advocates have argued that existing funds could be used to pay for expansion, while private lawyers for the LePage administration have said that a dedicated appropriation is required. Both sides looked to bolster those cases in questioning of witnesses this week.
But Murphy issued no decisions, and the sides agreed to submit legal briefs on core issues in the case by mid-October. The sides will likely present arguments to the lower-court judge before she her ruling, and any ruling is likely to go back to the high court later this year.
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