LePage mid-nonsensical filibuster in Maine gubernatorial debate.
Gov. Paul LePage likes to lie in his debates, especially when the subject is Medicaid expansion under Obamacare and why he vetoed it five separate times. When he's asked about it, a flurry of word salad always ensues, during which he unloads contradictory and confusing misinformation, so much so that the moderator and his opponents are at a loss as where to begin to rebut. He did it again Tuesday night, but he also demonstrated just how much the Medicaid issue is dogging him on this campaign.
WASHINGTON — Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) said Tuesday that he wants to "find a way" to provide health insurance to the state's 70,000 uninsured, even though he vetoed legislation in April that would have done just that—and at no cost to the state.
During a gubernatorial debate, LePage said he vetoed the Medicaid expansion bill because it would have covered people with incomes at 400 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill would have accepted millions of dollars in federal funds for the state's MaineCare program under the Affordable Care Act, which LePage has criticized. The federal government would have paid for the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion until 2017, at which point it would lower its coverage to 90 percent.
"I do agree, there are people under the federal poverty level," LePage said. "They need to be able to go to the exchanges. The federal exchanges will allow anyone from 100 percent on up to 400 percent to quality for large subsidies. We need to maximize that aspect of it. Take those that do not qualify and then find a way to get them insurance."
Which is exactly what Medicaid expansion would do—provide insurance for people who didn't qualify for subsidies on the exchange. And no, people up to 400 percent of poverty don't qualify for the Medicaid expansion, as LePage insists. That's the maximum set for subsidies for
private insurance on the exchanges, the limit for Medicaid expansion is 138 percent of poverty. The people in the gap—70,000 of them in Maine—can't go to the exchanges because that's how the law is. But LePage just spins and spins, making stuff up about the federal law precisely to sow confusion and distract from his obstruction.
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LePage continually tries to deflect the Medicaid question by pointing a finger at President Obama and the law and saying "that's how it is," while completely avoiding the fact that the only thing standing in the way of 70,000 Mainers getting health insurance is his veto pen.