Sued for defying Medicaid expansion

Maine governor sued for defying Medicaid expansion ballot measure

LePage has refused to implement Medicaid expansion after voters decisively approved it last fall.

By RACHANA PRADHAN

Obamacare supporters are suing Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s administration to force him to expand Medicaid, accusing the Republican of ignoring a ballot initiative that ordered the state to join the coverage program.

LePage has refused to expand Medicaid nearly six months after 59 percent of the state’s voters approved it in a first-of-its-kind ballot measure. He has insisted he won’t adopt Medicaid expansion unless state lawmakers meet his conditions for funding the program.

“With the goal of getting health care to people as soon as possible, we decided we couldn’t wait any longer,” said Robyn Merrill of Maine Equal Justice Partners, one of the advocacy groups behind the lawsuit.

The lawsuit against LePage‘s administration was expected after the Maine Legislature’s recent session ended without a funding agreement. A LePage spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

LePage, now in his last year in office, previously vetoed Medicaid expansion bills five times, prompting the state’s Obamacare supporters to organize the ballot initiative last year. Advocates are spearheading similar campaigns to get measures on the ballot this year in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covered the entire cost of expanding Medicaid coverage through 2016. States last year became responsible for a fraction of program costs, and they will be on the hook for 10 percent within a few years.

Roughly 80,000 low-income Maine adults are supposed to qualify for Medicaid benefits starting July 2, according to the ballot measure. The LePage administration skipped an early April deadline to formally notify the federal government it would expand Medicaid.

The lawsuit against the Maine Department of Health and Human Services was filed in state Superior Court. Other groups bringing the lawsuit include the Maine Primary Care Association and Maine Consumers for Affordable Health Care.

The office of Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, a Democrat running for governor this year, declined to comment on whether she would defend the state in the litigation. Earlier this year, Mills proposed using $35 million from a tobacco settlement to cover Medicaid expansion costs through 2019.

If Maine expands, it would become the 32nd state to join the Obamacare program. Medicaid expansion covers adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,800 for an individual and $34,600 for a family of four.