Thanks to the Sun Journal for the informative piece about the Affordable Care Act in Maine (Dec. 28). It is encouraging that the ACA has been the catalyst for positive changes in the delivery of health care that it was meant to be.
Gov. Paul LePage likes to tout that he paid debt owed the hospitals, yet due to his refusal to expand Medicaid under the ACA, Maine’s hospitals are once again incurring charity care debt and patient debt is on the rise. These are drags on Maine’s economy.
Maine is the only state in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast region that has refused Medicaid expansion, and one of only 16 remaining states still refusing expansion, despite the full coverage of cost by the federal government through 2016 and 90 percent of costs thereafter. What that means is that federal dollars from Maine are going to provide medical care for low income residents of other states, while Maine’s working poor get nothing. At the same time, Mainers pay more for health care to compensate for those without coverage.
It is estimated that Maine will lose more than $1 billion through the first three years the expansion would have been in place.
Many Republican governors supported expansion, realizing the boost to their states’ economies that it would provide. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Medicaid expansion would add very little to state spending on Medicaid, while providing health coverage to 17 million low-income adults (Kaiser Health News).
Lack of Medicaid expansion is costing Mainers real money.
Maryann Larson, Portland
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