The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • About
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • Maine Wire TV: Gary Drinkwater and Heidi Sampson on School Vaccine Mandates and Education Reform
  • Question A Helps Fix the Mess Socialists Made in Portland
  • Pro-Life Group Thinks Mills’ Late-Term Abortion Bill Lacks Votes to Pass
  • House Dems Vote Against Letting Healthcare Workers Who Refused COVID-19 Jabs Return to Jobs
  • Portland Police Seize 67 Grams of Fentanyl in Arrest
  • NYC Mayor Says City Considering Housing Asylum Seekers in ‘Private Residences’
  • Notorious Cold War Spy Dies In Prison
  • Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows Claims Credible Threat Made Against Her Life on Social Media
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Login
Wednesday, June 7
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • About
  • Contact
The Maine Wire
Home » News » Has Maine’s safety net turned into a hammock?
Commentary

Has Maine’s safety net turned into a hammock?

Larry LockmanBy Larry LockmanJanuary 20, 2014Updated:January 20, 20174 Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
Rep. Lawrence E. Lockman, R-Amherst
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
Lockman2012
Rep. Lawrence Lockman, R-Amherst

I was surprised to read in a recent op-ed column by state Sen. Emily Cain (D-Orono) that federal dollars have been “set aside” to provide free medical care to an additional 70,000  Mainers under the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion.

How can that be?

Surely Sen. Cain is aware that the federal government is dead broke and $17 trillion in debt. In fact, more than a third of federal spending is now funded by borrowing the money, and passing the IOUs to our kids and grandkids. To put it bluntly, anyone who thinks the feds have set aside free money for Maine to expand medical welfare is playing a dangerous game of let’s pretend. Now more than ever, I believe it’s time for an adult conversation about what’s at stake in the debate over Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare.

Maine has a history with Medicaid expansion, and if we don’t learn from that history we are bound to repeat it.

The last time Maine expanded Medicaid enrollment was in 2002. Before the expansion, about 200,000 people qualified for Medicaid coverage. I would characterize them as Maine’s most vulnerable citizens: minor children in low-income households, and the elderly poor and disabled. By expanding coverage to able-bodied childless adults, enrollment grew from 200,000 individuals in 2002 to 338,000 in 2012. Compare that to neighboring New Hampshire at 160,000. Many of the new enrollees in Maine would not qualify for Medicaid benefits in most other states.

In any case, Medicaid spending as a percentage of state General Fund spending doubled in the past 15 years, crowding out funding for schools, roads, law enforcement, and other obligations of state government. Increased spending for this medical welfare program has blown holes in the state budget year after year for the past decade, forcing the Legislature to enact supplemental stop-gap budgets to staunch the bleeding. This year will be no exception, with a projected shortfall of at least $119 million, most of it the result of previous expansions.

Even if the feds keep their promise to pay 100% of the costs for the additional 70,000 new enrollees for the first three years, Maine taxpayers will be on the hook for hiring at least 93 new staffers at the Department of Health & Human Services to handle the increased caseload. Sen. Cain has not told us where she plans to get the $75 million per year in projected long-term costs to state government for the expanded enrollment.

And let’s be clear about the demographics of the estimated 70,000 new enrollees. These childless adults are about 60% male, 75% single, 60% under 45 years old, all under 65 years old, and all able-bodied. Frankly, the vast majority of these people don’t need more welfare. They need jobs. Unfortunately for them, decades of one-party liberal Democrat governance in Augusta have water-boarded Maine’s economy.

During John Baldacci’s eight years as Governor, with Democrat majorities in both house of the Legislature, Maine’s economy generated a net 56 new jobs. Instead of growing the private-sector job market, liberals have focused on growing the welfare state and a culture of entitlement.

It’s clear to me as a freshman legislator that liberals measure their success by the number of people who depend on government to meet their basic needs. Clearly, the continued expansion of welfare programs hasn’t reduced poverty, but it has created plenty of permanent high-paying jobs for the liberal ruling class in government and in the lucrative non-profit sector.

Meanwhile, we have 3,100 seriously disabled Maine people on wait lists for needed Medicaid services because funding is unavailable. Why in the world would we want to give more freebies to able-bodied young adults when thousands of Maine’s most vulnerable are going without the services they need?

I believe we have an obligation to preserve the safety net for the truly needy. With that objective in mind, I will be voting against another reckless, irresponsible expansion of medical welfare when the bill comes before the House of Representatives.

Legislators will have to choose between protecting Maine’s most vulnerable, or turning the safety net into a hammock.

We can choose to commit our limited resources to your 78 year-old widowed grandmother to make sure she gets needed services and stays warm this winter. Or we can choose to subsidize your tattooed 28 year-old able-bodied but unemployed nephew, and make sure he gets free medical care and a fully-charged EBT card.

Lawrence Lockman, R-Amherst, represents District 30 in the Maine House of Representatives. He serves on the Labor, Commerce, Research & Economic Development Committee.

Emily Cain Lawrence Lockman Medicaid Obamacare Opinion
Previous ArticleDirigo Health – High priced lessons learned
Next Article Angus on Benghazi: "I haven't seen any real accountability"
Larry Lockman

Lawrence Lockman of Bradley served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, from 2012 to 2020. He is Co-founder and President of the conservative non-profit Maine First Project (mainefirstproject.org). He may be reached at larrylockman22@gmail.com.

Related Posts

Question A Helps Fix the Mess Socialists Made in Portland

June 6, 2023

Pro-Life Group Thinks Mills’ Late-Term Abortion Bill Lacks Votes to Pass

June 6, 2023

House Dems Vote Against Letting Healthcare Workers Who Refused COVID-19 Jabs Return to Jobs

June 6, 2023

4 Comments

  1. Tom Auger on January 21, 2014 5:51 AM

    Well stated

  2. Jake Mulligan on January 21, 2014 7:22 AM

    Now all you need to do is to get your colleagues to wake up and smell the coffee. Thank you for a well written article.

  3. Janet Jamison on January 21, 2014 8:07 AM

    How come the GOP is so concerned about the future and debt left to “our grandchildren” ? Did you give a crap about the future when you all jumped on the endless war train? Of course not. While you proud “Patriots” crow, many of us believe the use of tax dollars to take care of our fellow countrymen to be decent use of our money!

  4. Pine Treeconomics on January 21, 2014 2:21 PM

    This “56 new jobs” stat is moving around in time and space.

    From the above piece:

    “During John Baldacci’s eight years as Governor [2003 – 2011], with Democrat majorities in both house of the Legislature, Maine’s economy generated a net 56 new jobs. Instead of growing the private-sector job market, liberals have focused on growing the welfare state and a culture of entitlement.”

    From an op-ed piece in July, 2011 by Andre Cushing:

    http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/29/opinion/who%E2%80%99s-really-standing-up-for-maine-people/

    “The state generated only 56 net new jobs between 2000 and 2010, according to University of Southern Maine economist Charles Colgan.”

    From MHPC, December, 2011:

    http://www.statebudgetsolutions.org/publications/detail/fixing-maines-welfare-system

    “Yet according to University of Southern Maine economist Charles Colgan, a net of only 56 new jobs were created in Maine in the ten years between the fall of 1999 and the fall of 2009.”

Leave A Reply

Recent News

Maine Wire TV: Gary Drinkwater and Heidi Sampson on School Vaccine Mandates and Education Reform

June 6, 2023

Question A Helps Fix the Mess Socialists Made in Portland

June 6, 2023

Pro-Life Group Thinks Mills’ Late-Term Abortion Bill Lacks Votes to Pass

June 6, 2023

House Dems Vote Against Letting Healthcare Workers Who Refused COVID-19 Jabs Return to Jobs

June 6, 2023

Portland Police Seize 67 Grams of Fentanyl in Arrest

June 6, 2023
Newsletter

News

  • News
  • Campaigns & Elections
  • Opinion & Commentary
  • Media Watch
  • Education
  • Media

Maine Wire

  • About the Maine Wire
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Commentary
  • Complaints
  • Maine Policy Institute

Resources

  • Maine Legislature
  • Legislation Finder
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Maine Wire TV

Facebook Twitter Instagram Steam RSS
  • Post Office Box 7829, Portland, Maine 04112

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Sign In or Register

Welcome Back!

Login below or Register Now.

Lost password?

Register Now!

Already registered? Login.

A password will be e-mailed to you.