Despite the fact that the state of Maine, by a 59-41 percent margin, voted to override Gov. Paul LePage's repeated vetos of Medicaid expansion a year ago, expansion still hasn't happened because LePage refuses to recognize the will of the people. He's being sued for that by the group that campaigned for expansion, Maine Equal Justice Partners, but pending that lawsuit, the people who would qualify under the expansion remain uninsured.
That means thousands of people, like Eric Spahn, 62, of Brunswick, has not received treatment for hepatitis C, kidney disease, and cataracts for years. "I've been letting things go," he said, because the low-wage work he had didn't offer benefits, and he had no options when he was forced to retire—because of his poor health—a few years ago. "If I'd had Medicaid all along," he surmises, "maybe my kidneys wouldn't have declined so much." He makes about $5,000 a year.
He's one of the 70,000 eligible Mainers just waiting for resolution, while remaining uninsured, getting sicker, or potentially going bankrupt if they can't continue to hold out. As the months-long legal wrangling continues, thousands remain uninsured, which means that many will put off taking care of health problems or leave themselves susceptible to medical bankruptcy if they fall severely ill. Jeremy Lester, 49, of Portland, is a recovering alcoholic who takes blood pressure, anti-depressant, and anti-anxiety medications, which cost about $20-$30 per month. "I haven’t had insurance in so long you kind of get used to it," he says.
Bethany Loss "has severe cognitive issues, epilepsy, memory issues and a language disorder," and turned 26 this year, so she can't be on her mother Naomi's insurance anymore. She can't work regularly, but has been turned down for Medicaid disability, twice, and so she’s in a gray area where the government doesn’t consider her disabled, but she can’t work a regular job. Her epilepsy medications cost $1,200 per month, her mother says. "I always knew the expansion was important, but I didn't appreciate what it really meant until I had to jump in the middle of it." There are so many more: Marion Puglisi, 61, of Portland, who has atrial fibrillation; and Michelle Gagne of Biddeford, who provides full-time care for her disabled husband on just $750 a month in income for both of them.
Some of these folks rely on what charity they can, and on "free care" programs available through MaineHealth that provide some primary care, screenings, and reduced-cost medicine. But they don't include mental health services or substance-abuse treatment programs, and little in the way of specialist care.
LePage is holding them all hostage, in defiance of the law, in defiance of the people's will. That's, in a nutshell, your Republican Party of 2018. It's what Trump and a Republican Congress will do to the nation if given the opportunity. It's why we have to take the states and the Congress back.
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