AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Legislature on Tuesday took action to support health care by enacting a funding bill to facilitate the smooth implementation of the voter-approved Medicaid expansion law.
Maine voters in 2017 approved the law at the ballot box, a move that opened the door for more than 70,000 uninsured, low-income Mainers to obtain health care coverage through MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Gov. Paul LePage’s administration missed a key implementation deadline in April, prompting a ruling in Maine Superior Court directing the administration to do the work necessary to expand eligibility.
As newly eligible Mainers look forward to July 2, the date on which the state must begin providing coverage, MECEP would like to remind reporters, editors and producers of the economic benefits Medicaid Expansion will provide:
- $684 million: Annual economic activity to be generated in Maine each year once Medicaid expansion is fully implemented.
- 5,980: Number of jobs to be created in Maine, including many good-paying health care jobs, as a result of Medicaid expansion.1
- 70,000: Mainers who are eligible for coverage under the law and can enroll on July 2.
MECEP Executive Director Garrett Martin released the following statement:
“Maine has been eligible for federal funding to expand MaineCare eligibility since 2014. By rejecting bipartisan effort after bipartisan effort to expand health care, Gov. LePage left public health and economic benefits on the table for years. Mainers want more health care, not less. It’s time for the governor to accept the voters’ will and implement this law.”
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The Maine Center for Economic Policy was a member of the steering committee of Mainers for Health Care, the ballot question committee that supported the Medicaid expansion referendum in 2017.
Notes:
1 MECEP economic impact and jobs modeling conducted using IMPLAN economic planning software, a tool utilized by academic, nonprofit and governmental institutions.
