LePage vetoes Medicaid expansion bill
Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to around 70,000 low-income people, and the veto is likely to be upheld in the Legislature.
The Bangor Daily News reported LePage vetoed the bill late Wednesday, the third time he has vetoed a plan to expand Medicaid under a provision in the Affordable Care Act that would have the federal government support expansion costs for three years.
The bill vetoed Wednesday was, because of its two Republican sponsors, the likeliest of the three Medicaid expansion measures before the Legislature this session to win GOP support. It would allow the state to end the expansion after three years if the federal government fails to meet its funding promises, a concern LePage expressed in earlier statements against the expansion.
In his veto letter for the bill sponsored by Republican Sens. Roger Katz and Tom Saviello, LePage wrote that expanding the health care program to every resident making less than 138% of the federal poverty level would be “ruinous,” echoing his previous statements that Medicaid spending has continued to grow as a share of the state’s budget.
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