Continuing services budget provides stability to Maine communities and economy Two weeks ago, the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs decided the budget for the upcoming two years would be divided into two parts: a “continuing […] Josie Phillips Posted April 3, 2023 Tags Budget, Caregiving, Children, Education, Health Care, Wages
Health Care, Taxes and Budget Maine lawmakers push to expand MaineCare to some non-citizens “With some of the previous expansions of MaineCare, the federal government has born a lot of the cost,” Maine Center for Economic Policy Analyst James Myall said. […] Fox 23 Posted March 28, 2023 Tags Health Care, Racial Equity, Taxes
Health Care Will legislators undo LePage’s rollback and restore health coverage to low-income immigrants? “New Mainers are particularly likely to work in grocery stores and care homes, restaurant kitchens and hotels — many of the industries which are currently struggling to […] Beacon Posted February 27, 2023 Tags Health Care, Racial Equity
Health Care Advocates worry that ‘fentanyl hysteria’ will further criminalize people who use drugs “By 2016, harm reduction activists noted the product on the street that was being sold as heroin had almost none,” reads A Better Path for Maine: The […] Beacon Posted February 13, 2023 Tags Health Care
Taxes and Budget Yes, a budget can change lives Upcoming budget process gives legislators a choice to make our communities more resilient As Mainers have seen, when legislators resist a scarcity mindset and choose to fund […] Josie Phillips Posted January 9, 2023 Tags Budget, Child Tax Credit, Children, Health Care
Health Care MaineCare Expansion at 4: Greater Care, Healthier Hospitals, Stronger Economy On January 3, 2019, Governor Janet Mills signed her first executive order, implementing the expansion of MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program, which had been approved by voters in […] James Myall Posted January 3, 2023 Tags Health Care, Immigration, Medicaid
Health Care Medicaid expansion, COVID relief helped Maine reach record levels of health coverage in 2021 Census data released last week shows that just under 78,000 Mainers (about 5.7%) lacked health insurance in 2021. That’s the lowest share of uninsured people dating back to 1988, […] Beacon Posted September 20, 2022 Tags Coronavirus, Health Care, Medicaid
Health Care Census data: Health insurance coverage in Maine at record levels This week, the U.S. Census Bureau released 2021 poverty, income, and health data from its Current Population and American Community Surveys (CPS and ACS). Overall, the new national and state […] Posted September 15, 2022 Tags Child Tax Credit, Economic Security, EITC, Health Care, Medicaid
Taxes and Budget Families, advocates demand accountability after string of deaths in Maine prisons and jails Advocates at the rally argued that the rise in prison and jail deaths is related to decades of policy decisions in Maine that have resulted in a […] Beacon Posted September 12, 2022 Tags Budget, Health Care, Inequality
Health Care, Jobs and Income, Taxes and Budget The Inflation Reduction Act makes our tax code fairer, tackles the climate crisis, and makes health care more affordable for Mainers On Sunday, the US Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill which promises to make historic investments in clean energy, long-awaited fixes to our upside-down tax […] James Myall Posted August 11, 2022 Tags Federal, Health Care, Inflation, Tax Fairness, Taxes