BREAKING: Court Orders Resistant LePage To Expand Medicaid In Maine
Source: Talking Points Memo
A Superior Court in Maine has ruled that Gov. Paul LePage (R) must submit the paperwork necessary to move forward on expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to cover about 70,000 more low-income people in the state.
In her ruling, Justice Michaela Murphy slammed LePage’s health department for unilaterally blocking the expansion’s implementation since voters overwhelmingly approved it by ballot initiative last November.
“The Court concludes that the Commissioner’s complete failure to act cannot be considered substantial compliance,” she wrote, ordering the governor to submit the necessary paperwork by June 11.
Maine’s state legislature has voted five times in the past five years to expand Medicaid, and LePage vetoed the effort five times. Having reached an impasse, health care advocates turned to the ballot box, gathering signatures to get the measure on the 2017 ballot and successfully campaigning for its passage. Nearly 60 percent of voters cast a ballot in favor — making the state the first in the nation to expand Medicaid by popular vote.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/breaking-court-orders-resistant-lepage-to-expand-medicaid-in-maine
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