AUGUSTA, Maine — A state judge has ordered Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration to file paperwork to expand Medicaid as voters demanded despite an ongoing appeal, and the governor vowed to fight the order Monday.
Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy on Friday denied a motion filed by the LePage administration, which does not want to file a Medicaid expansion plan while the state’s high court considers its appeal in an expedited process.
The LePage administration countered Monday in an appeal of that decision to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that courts are forcing the state to implement “massive new benefits” that lawmakers haven’t funded.
Last fall, nearly 59 percent of Mainers voted to expand Medicaid by July 2 to over 70,000 adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In 2017, that threshold meant $16,643 for a single person and $22,412 for a family of two.
The governor missed an April deadline to submit a Medicaid expansion plan needed to receive eventually over $500 million in annual federal funds. LePage this month appealed a judge’s June 4 order requiring his administration to submit the paperwork to the federal government by June 11.
To read the rest of “LePage asks Maine’s top court to overrule judge’s order to submit Medicaid plan,” an article by Marina Villeneuve, Associated Press follow this link to the BDN online.
