Sen. Troy Jackson said, “I never signed up to be the person who decides who lives and dies in this state, or to say ‘I’m sorry, you don’t have health care anymore.’”

In an initial vote of 74 to 69, Republican lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives forced through budget cuts that will take away health care from more than 24,000 Maine seniors, children and working families, while also passing unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy. The vote in the Senate was 19 to 16, along party lines, too.

“The Republican budget cuts will do unnecessary harm to seniors and working families across our state,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “No Maine family should have to choose between putting food on the table or paying for medicine.”

The proposal will close an $80 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services budget.

“This budget is riddled with disingenuous savings, hidden costs, and illegal proposals,” said Rep. Mark Eves, the lead House Democrat on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.

The GOP proposal reduces access to medicine and medical care for more than 5,000 seniors; cuts Head Start early childhood education programs for 216 children and child care credits for 1,400 families; cuts funding to home visitation programs that help prevent domestic violence for 750 families in crisis; eliminates health care for 7,000 19 and 20 year olds; and reduces funding for women’s health and family planning by $400,000.

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A petition launched by United States Senate candidate and State Rep. Jon Hinck (D-Portland) has gone viral on the internet and has quickly garnered thousands of signatures from Mainers opposed to the LePage-backed budget. The petition cites to cuts to in services from Head Start to Drugs for the Elderly as well as diversion of tobacco settlement money from the Fund for Healthy Maine. As soon as he read the budget, Hinck knew that other Mainers would object. After discussion with fellow lawmakers, Hinck launched the online petition. In just four days, the petition has over 3,500 signers.

“This was a rapid response operation in the face of harmful cuts backed by just one party and on a very short deadline,” Hinck said. “The petition has gone viral because many Mainers are taking this budget personally. It hurts people at a very difficult time and many see it as mean spirited.”A big crowd of budget opponents filled the halls between the two legislative chambers in Augusta this morning. Many people in the crowd stopped Representative Hinck to thank him for the petition.

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Citizens at the State House defending the people's right for healthcare. They don't want the LePage cuts in MaineCare.

With a planned party-line budget vote today, Maine Republicans are set to take an historic action. By ratifying Governor Paul LePage’s deep cuts to important health care programs and his giant new tax breaks that mainly benefit the wealthy, they are set to make Maine’s economic policy the most ideological and extreme of any state in the nation.

“The Republicans’ actions today are both ideologically extreme and morally reprehensible,” said Maine People’s Alliance executive director Jesse Graham. “No other state in the country has cut so deep into programs for those who are suffering the most while at the same time giving such large tax breaks to those who are the most well-off.”

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Democrats presented an alternative proposal to Gov. Paul LePage’s budget that makes the necessary adjustments to bring the budget into balance. It is responsible and prevents the harmful and risky cuts implemented in the Republican proposal.

The Democratic lawmakers proposal includes a cost-saving MaineCare restructuring initiative that will deliver more efficient health care services; a cost-saving provider-fraud recovery program, and also increases funding for the state’s rainy day fund.

The Democratic legislators solution transfers $60 million in increased revenue re-projections from 2012 and 2013 budgets to help close the gap. They also provide approximately $28 million in savings initiatives, including a provider fraud recovery savings of $5 million, salary savings of $1 million, a MaineCare restructuring task force that projects a savings of $10 million, approximately $8 million in revenue transfers from other accounts, the restructuring of Health and Human Services, and other additional items.

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Portland city hall where the mayor has stated cuts in the state budget would hurt the city. photo by Ramona du Houx

Portland, Maine, Mayor Michael Brennan voiced concern over the proposed thirty percent cut to programs funded by the Fund for a Healthy Maine (FHM) and administered by the City of Portland. FHM, funds received by the state from the Master Tobacco Settlement, are the only dollars dedicated to prevent chronic disease and health promotion in Maine. While details are not complete, the Republican Legislative Leadership budget proposal calls for cuts of at least $250,000 to city programs specifically Healthy Maine Partnerships, school-based health centers and home visitation.

“As a legislator, I was proud to be a part of the effort to invest the monies coming from the tobacco settlement into programs that would prevent disease and help Mainers live healthy and active lives, and as Mayor, I see the direct benefit of these investments in our community,” stated Mayor Brennan. “This simple fact of the matter is that the old adage penny wise and pound foolish applies to these cuts. For every dollar the state has invested in these prevention efforts, Maine has saved approximately $7.50 in costs, the highest return of investment for any state in the country.”

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More dentists are stepping up to provide dental homes for Head Start and Early Head Start children. The nearly 4,000 children ages birth to age 5 who attend Head Start and Early Head Start child development programs in Maine have historically faced challenges finding dentists to take them on as permanent patients in a “dental home”, where they can receive continuous and coordinated care. Early oral health services are essential to preventing oral disease in all young children, and in the Head Start program there is a requirement that children be up to date on required dental services. However, a combination of factors has kept Head Start from meeting these requirements. These include a lack of understanding on the part of parents about the importance of oral health, and the distribution and number of dental practices willing and able to serve young children, many of whom have no insurance or are on MaineCare.

This is about to change with the advent of the Maine’s Dental Home Initiative, a state-based national Head Start effort, which is a project of the Maine Dental Access Coalition, the Maine Office of Head Start, the Maine Dental Association and the University of Maine at Augusta at its state-of the art-dental clinic in Bangor.

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Democratic lawmakers on the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee today are calling on the LePage Administration to release the details of a substantive “change package” it submitted to Republicans last week to address the shortfall in the 2013 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The governor’s new suggested changes have not had a public hearing.

“The governor has handed down secret marching orders to the Republicans with no intention of informing the public,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo of Lewiston, the lead House Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “I’m saddened to see such an end run around the public and disregard for our working together. As a veteran member of this committee, I’ve never seen such an over step by a governor. He may as well be chairing the committee.”

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Today Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $1,268,173 in grants awarded to community health centers in Maine due to the new health care law – the Affordable Care Act. Penobscot Community Health Center, Inc.of Bangor will receive $498,173.Pines Health Service,of Caribou will get $270, and $500,000 will go to the City of Portland.

“President Obama’s health care law is making community health centers in Maine stronger,” said Secretary Sebelius. “For many Americans, community health centers are the major source of care that ranges from prevention to treatment of chronic diseases. This investment will expand our ability to provide high-quality care to millions of people while supporting good paying jobs in communities across the country.”

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The Portland Community Health Center is getting a $500,000 grant to help them expand and renovate the facility on Park Avenue.

“This investment makes health care more accessible for people in our community who can’t afford it, without putting that burden on local property taxes,” said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. “And the work that this money will fund also helps support local jobs, not just in the health center itself but construction jobs to do the necessary renovations.”

Nationwide employment at health centers is up 15 percent because of these investments, supporting thousands of good-paying health care jobs for nurse, medical technicians and others.

The funding announced today will allow the Health Center to renovate the clinic, providing more space to see additional patients and make medical care more efficient.

“This is great news and it’s going to allow us to do the expansion necessary to see one-third more patients. Without this funding, these renovations wouldn’t be possible,” said Leslie Brancato, CEO of the Health Clinic.

The Portland Community Health Center currently serves 3,000 patients, although the renovations funded by this grant will allow them to see an additional 1,000 patients. Payment is made on a sliding scale based on a patient’s ability to pay.

The grant announced today is funded by the Affordable Care Act, which Pingree co-sponsored in her first year in Congress.

Hans-Bruns was cut off from his MaineCare because of a LePage policy. He has cancer and since then has only received emergency care for his critical illness because of Maine's new policy that discriminates against immigrants. courtesy photo

Maine Equal Justice Partners and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine Foundation today filed suit in U.S. District Court against the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to restore health insurance coverage for a man with a life-threatening illness who is suffering unbearable pain.

The suit was brought on behalf of Hans Bruns, a resident of Fort Fairfield who lost health care coverage through MaineCare in October. In addition, the suit seeks class status for an estimated 500 individuals who were also denied coverage as part of a change in state law adopted last year.

“Hans Bruns has cancer and is suffering from incredible pain. Without proper treatment, Hans faces a terrifying and painful fight for his life with a very poor prognosis for survival,” said Robyn Merrill, a policy analyst and attorney for Maine Equal Justice Partners. “We are asking the court to restore Hans’ health insurance coverage so he can get the full range of treatment that could result in better health outcomes and ease his suffering.”

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