Republican Gov. Paul LePage said he’ll continue denying applications under a voter-approved Medicaid expansion until lawmakers provide funding under his terms.
Pro-Medicaid expansion advocates who are suing to force Maine to roll-out voter-approved Medicaid expansion have encouraged Mainers to apply for Medicaid expansion this summer. But LePage said the plan is to deny those applications “until they’re funded.”
“All they got to do is give me the money and everything’s going to be fine,” he told The Associated Press. “I don’t know why the Legislature refuses to acknowledge that Medicaid is not free.”
Nearly three out of five Maine voters last November supported expanding Medicaid to provide health care coverage to an additional 70,000 to 80,000 low-income residents starting July 2.
