Gov. Paul LePage, stealing people's health insurance.
Gov. Paul LePage, stealing people's health insurance.
While the rest of the country is seeing a vast improvement in uninsured rates, Maine is moving backward, which is even more bad news for crazy tea party Gov. Paul LePage. LePage has steadfastly refused to expand Medicaid in that state, and has vetoed several expansion bills. Additionally, he oversaw cuts to the existing Medicaid program which resulted in 30,000 losing coverage, leaving a
big mess.
Maine was one of only two states in the country to see a rise in the number of people without health insurance from 2012 to 2013, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The number of uninsured Mainers grew by 12,000 over that period, a 9 percent increase that brought the total number of people without insurance to 147,000, or 11.2 percent of the state’s population, according to the bureau’s annual American Community Survey. […]
Nationally, the number of uninsured was 42 million, or 14.5 percent of the U.S. population. Maine’s 11.2 percent rate was the second-highest in New England. Rhode Island had the highest rate of uninsured at 11.6 percent. Massachusetts, which in 2006 implemented a health care law that became the model for the Affordable Care Act, had the lowest rate in the country at 3.7 percent. Vermont, which is moving toward universal health care, posted the second-lowest rate in New England at 7.7 percent.
The fact that Maine has the highest uninsured rate in New England will definitely be an issue in November's election.
“While the rate of people without health insurance is dropping nationally, it’s going up in Maine,” [Democrat Mike] Michaud said. “Thousands of people in Maine are unable to see a doctor when they need one and are one accident or illness away from catastrophic medical bills. And it’s not just people without insurance who are suffering. Every person with health insurance is paying a hidden tax and our hospitals are struggling with an increase in bad debt and charity care.”
Electing Michaud essentially means that Maine will automatically become a Medicaid expansion state. The legislature is already there, and LePage is the only thing standing in the way.
Please give $3 to help Mike Michaud give LePage the boot.
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