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June 12, 2013

Medicaid debt payment plan gets committee OK

A legislative committee gave its unanimous endorsement Tuesday to a plan to pay the state's $183.5 million Medicaid debt to hospitals.

The Sun Journal reported the bill would borrow against projected revenue from renegotiating the state's wholesale liquor distribution contract, a plan Gov. Paul LePage proposed near the start of this legislative session.

Making that payment before Oct. 1 of this year would trigger nearly $300 million in federal reimbursements also owed to Maine hospitals.

The bill now heads to the Senate for a vote.

Earlier this year, LePage said passage of a plan to settle the state's hospital debt would make him comfortable releasing $105 million in voter-approved bonds for transportation and other projects and $100 million in a revenue bond for a new prison in Windham.

In March, LePage proposed a separate $100 million transportation bond package that he said would also hinge on the Legislature approving a plan to repay the state's hospital debt.

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