The Bangor Daily News published an editorial on Monday that urged the Maine Legislature to override Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a Medicaid expansion bill.
The editors, in their zeal to blast a governor they clearly dislike, substituted facts for Democrat Party talking points and snide down-talking.
“We didn’t expect him to be open to the idea of extending health insurance to tens of thousands of Maine’s poorest,” the editors oozed.
Medicaid is not health insurance. It is a welfare program. It is also a broken and dysfunctional welfare program that has strained Maine’s budget for more than a decade. By construing the Medicaid expansion proposal in this manner, BDN’s editorial writers accidentally or willfully advanced the misleading language Democrats and liberal interest groups have used since Obamacare was upheld by the Supreme Court.
“We expected him,” the prophetic editors further ooze, “to argue that the federal government isn’t likely to hold to its promise and pay all the costs of expanding to newly eligible adults for three years — even though the legislation would end the program after three years and then require a re-evaluation.”
This is outright false. DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew has made clear that any future reduction in eligibility would require permission from the federal government. This is because the Supreme Court’s decision prohibited the federal government from mandating Medicaid expansion, but did not prevent the federal government from prohibiting a state from opting out. In other words, the sunset clause is symbolic, as the decision to “opt out” ultimately depends on the federal government. The legislation would not end the program after three years; the editors are wrong for asserting so.
The editors, in a screed that drips with sarcasm, hatred, and political advocacy, stated repeatedly that LePage’s decision to veto Medicaid expansion was “unsurprising.”
You know what else is unsurprising? That the editors of a major Maine newspaper would attack LePage, that they would print as truth unfounded talking points, and that they would pat themselves on the back for a job well done.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="6815 http://www.themainewire.com/?p=6815">7 Comments
No surprise that the editors of the Bangor Democrat News would publish a misleading and false liberal talking point strewn screed against Gov. LePage. The BDNs bias againsy LePage is just as bad as the Pingree People’s Herald.
Never surprised what the BDN will print for editorials. Best way to handle those columns, is read the headline, then the last paragraph. You will have learned all there is to learn from their opinions. Few people probably bother to read them anyway. Garbage in garbage out.
I read the LARRY DOUGHTY news and if its not happening there FORGET IT
Medicaid is health insurance because, like all health insurance, it provides payments to health providers. The use of term “welfare” for it is quite recent and is itself a talking point. It’s misleading because it implies that the people receiving the funds don’t work for a living and aren’t taxpayers; that’s simply not true for these newly Medicaid eligibles.
The use of the word “broken” is also a talking point. It’s well-established that earlier Medicaid expansion in Maine and other states saved lives because people with preventable diseases were diagnosed and treated.
There is no insurance about it. It is free care – totally free – no pre-pay like Medicare, no copay, no deductible. And it is welfare, just like SNAP, TANF – one must qualify to get this free government paid-for “benefit.” And the term “medical welfare” is not new – I and others have been using the term for at least ten years.
It’s also a well established fact that expanding eligibility under MaineCare overloaded hospital E.R.s and burdened hospitals and other health care providers with a new layer of bad debt from people who won’t co-pay. The MUSKIE study of E.R. overloads, and the Maine Hospital Association’s fact sheet on bad debt and charity care reveal the brutal facts about expanding Medicaid; but don’t reveal how a growing number of people at the bottom of society expect a ‘free ride’ , subsidized health care, and no longer obligated to pay their share since this is now a RIGHT.
So it that respect it has become a ‘welfare program’ for them.
**look at who supported the use of EBT funds to buy junk food and ask yourself whether this is the reaction of people and their political handlers who expect free money for food and NO strings attached. The once vaulted nutritional program has been converted into a junk food junkies wet dream.
Only a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style.