Feds deny Medicaid expansion requests
Gov. Paul LePage announced Thursday that the federal government will not meet two of his administration's requests regarding the expansion of Medicaid coverage in the state.
Mary Mayhew, commissioner of Maine's Department of Health and Human Services, wrote a letter to federal officials in February, asking for the national government to pay for 10 years of expanding Medicaid, not three as outlined in the Affordable Care Act, and to not "penalize" the state for having expanded the program previously.
In other states, the federal government has agreed to pay all costs of expanding coverage to a group of adults that already get state coverage in Maine. Mayhew and the governor argued that the federal government should pick up Maine's full tab for those adults as well.
LePage said Thursday that the federal government has denied both requests. Federal officials wrote that Maine will continue to receive 62% federal funding for some non-disabled parents, not the 100% funding that states expanding Medicaid are slated to receive.
If 100% of those 41,000 adults were covered by the federal government, the state's Medicaid bill would be reduced by $12.4 million.
Separately, LePage said the federal government is likely to pick up the bill for 100% of around 10,000 childless adults already covered in the state.
LePage said he was disappointed by the news that the state will not receive the requested federal funds.
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