Gov. Paul LePage
Maine Gov. Paul LePage is so rabidly opposed to Obamacare, it wasn't enough for him to just refuse the expanded Medicaid funding available to the state under the law. He rejected that expansion, and while he was at it, tried to
purge the program of 37,000 current Medicaid patients.
But the Obama administration will prevent LePage from carrying out that plan. Federal officials rejected the governor’s proposal to drop coverage for nearly 15,000 parents with incomes that fall between the federal poverty level ($23,050 for a family of four) and 133 percent of the poverty level ($30,657 for a family of four), as well as an additional 6,000 19- and 20-year-olds whose incomes put them in that gap. Obamacare seeks to establish a new eligibility level for Medicaid at 133 percent of the poverty level, which will help eliminate the coverage gap that often prevents America’s working poor from being able to afford the health services they need.
That's the good news. Unfortunately, it's not all of the news. Maine had previously extended Medicaid coverage to parents making
between 133 and 150 percent of the poverty level. The state has been given permission to contract that number down to 133 percent, meaning some 20,000 Medicaid recipients will be kicked out of the program when the cuts go into effect in March.