At Thursday's governors debate in Maine, the contestants were allowed to ask questions of one another. Democrat Mike Michaud tried to get Gov. Paul LePage to explain why it was he had vetoed Medicaid expansion under Obamacare
five times, and asked could he "look in the camera" and tell someone who is going without lifesaving medication why he felt they were too costly for care. Nonsense
ensued.
LePage: Okay, the only bill I ever vetoed dealing with medication was to bring back the people getting 400 percent of poverty, elderlies getting pensions above $45,000 and having the state pay their medication 100 percent. At no time, at no time, is there a person in the state of Maine today that needs to go without medication.
Now, either candidate will say "oh, you didn't expand Medicaid. The expansion of Medicaid, I've been trying to explain to them, that getting commercial insurance off the exchange is much better than getting Medicaid because Medicaid doesn't cover the cost of medication, of doctors offices, or hospitalization. So, ultimately, what we need to do is stop worrying about minimums, and getting the state going much more prosperous and getting people to earn above 100 percent of the poverty level.
Yes, he really talks like that. "The elderlies" and all. Of course, along with being mildly amusing, it's all hooey. Because of course, the 25,000 people in Maine who would have been eligible for Medicaid expansion would love to make enough money to be able to afford a private plan. They don't. And they make too much to qualify for existing Medicaid. Which is why they are uninsured. Because LePage vetoed the legislature's efforts to close the Medicaid gap five times. As for the assertion that Medicaid "doesn't cover the cost of medication, of doctors offices, or hospitalization," well that's also hooey. Maine's version of Medicaid, Mainecare,
covers these things, that is if people qualify for "full-benefit" Mainecare. Many of the people in the Medicaid gap don't fall in the category that receives full benefits. But there's more. LePage also
shrank Mainecare kicking thousands out of the program, and causing many in this state—which has always been among those with the highest rates of insurance—to be uninsured.
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Maybe LePage truly doesn't believe that there are people in his state who are going without life-saving medical care because of him and his vetoes. If that's true, then he really needs to be sent packing.