The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • Podcasts
  • About
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • Chinese Foreign Nationals Entering U.S. Illegally at Record Levels
  • Maine Private School Teacher Was Fired After Criticizing Critical Race Theory and Posting Jordan Peterson Videos
  • Maine on Track for Record Level of Eviction Filings This Year
  • Dem Senator Indicted Over Alleged Bribery Scheme
  • McDonald’s Is Being Sued Over a Spilled Cup of Excessively Hot Coffee — Again
  • Report of Gun Leads to Arrests, Fentanyl Seizure at Auburn Homeless Encampment
  • Portland Mayoral Candidates Explain How They Would Tackle the City’s Homelessness Crisis
  • Boston University Launches Inquiry into Ibram X. Kendi’s $43 Million Antiracism Center Amid Mass Layoffs, Accusations of Financial Mismanagement
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Login
Monday, September 25
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • Podcasts
  • About
  • Contact
The Maine Wire
Home » News » Medicaid expansion is here. Now what?
Healthcare

Medicaid expansion is here. Now what?

Liam SigaudBy Liam SigaudJanuary 7, 2019Updated:January 7, 2019No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

For the second time in 17 years, Maine has expanded Medicaid. Governor Mills has directed DHHS to take swift action to enroll newly eligible able-bodied adults, and at least 70,000 people are now able to sign up for free health care.

Gov. Mills cloaked her executive order in rosy rhetoric, but the stark realities of funding Medicaid expansion can’t be ignored for long. Now that Medicaid expansion is here, we must find a responsible and sustainable way to fund it.

Maine’s own previous experiment with expanding Medicaid to able-bodied adults shows that Maine taxpayers will soon feel the fiscal consequences of this decision, and the experiences of other expansion states provide further warnings.

On average, states that have expanded Medicaid have enrolled more than twice the expected number of recipients and faced far higher per capita spending than predicted. According to a 2018 analysis, the cost overruns from Medicaid expansion total 157 percent — in other words, expansion is costing states more than two-and-a-half times what was originally projected.

These facts cast serious doubt on the Mills administration’s claims that tobacco settlement funds and a modest budget surplus will be adequate to cover Medicaid expansion, even in the short-run. Gov. Mills and her legislative allies have failed to articulate a workable long-term funding plan, even as analysts warn that ballooning Medicaid budgets are destabilizing state finances and putting us on the path to a fiscal crisis in the next few decades. If history is any guide, Medicaid expansion will quickly be followed by sizable tax increases on working families.

Maine’s own experiment with Medicaid expansion under Governor King demonstrates that Gov. Mills’ funding schemes are unrealistic. As MHPC detailed before the referendum, virtually every substantive claim made by expansion proponents in 2002 was proven wrong or overblown in the years that followed.

The economic boom that expansion advocates promised never materialized (in fact, GDP growth slowed in the aftermath of expansion). The uninsured rate did not significantly decline, as many who previously had private insurance opted for free, government health care. Uncompensated care at Maine’s hospitals, instead of falling, grew dramatically.

Studies failed to find any indication that expansion reduced mortality rates or improved overall health. Enrollment estimates were greatly exceeded, contributing to a more than doubling of Maine’s Medicaid budget from 2002 to 2011. The inflation-adjusted per capita state and local tax burden increased by $174 over the same period. In failing to acknowledge this dismal record, the Mills administration is not being candid with Mainers.

Gov. Mills shouldn’t try to sugar-coat it. As Medicaid spending continues to outstrip overall inflation and personal income growth, Mainers will see more and more of their hard-earned paychecks going to finance medical care for childless, able-bodied, non-elderly adults.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Affordable Care Act Commentary Featured governor janet mills Janet Mills Medicaid Medicaid expansion Obamacare Opinion
Previous ArticleIs the three percent surtax back from the dead?
Next Article Maine taxpayers cannot afford the costs of universal health care
Liam Sigaud

Liam Sigaud is a former policy analyst at Maine Policy Institute. A native of Rockland, Maine, he holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of Maine at Augusta and has studied policy analysis and economics at the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. He can be reached by email at liam.sigaud@maine.edu.

Related Posts

Natural Disaster Threatens Man-Made Disaster as Hurricane Lee Bears Down on Portland’s Growing Homeless Camp

September 15, 2023

City of Portland Claims Migrant Crisis an “Act of God”

September 15, 2023

Maine Medical Association Endorses Universal Health Insurance Coverage

September 15, 2023

Leave A Reply

Recent News

Chinese Foreign Nationals Entering U.S. Illegally at Record Levels

September 25, 2023

Maine Private School Teacher Was Fired After Criticizing Critical Race Theory and Posting Jordan Peterson Videos

September 25, 2023

Maine on Track for Record Level of Eviction Filings This Year

September 25, 2023

Dem Senator Indicted Over Alleged Bribery Scheme

September 22, 2023

McDonald’s Is Being Sued Over a Spilled Cup of Excessively Hot Coffee — Again

September 22, 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.