The Maine Department of Health and Human Services on Friday filed a nearly 50-page response to the Trump administration’s demands for records on the state’s management of MaineCare.
But in a fiery video released Friday evening, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills dismissed the federal inquiry as an attempt by President Donald Trump to distract from his “failing agenda” and to punish Democratic-led states. She also predicted that the Trump administration will seek to withhold federal Medicaid funding from Maine as it has in Minnesota.
“Maine will not be intimidated by the threats of a president who is using allegations of fraud as a pretext to hurt people,” Mills said. “We will fight back.”
Last month, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gave the state just 30 days to produce reams of data on the state’s Medicaid program after a federal audit found $46 million in alleged improper payments. The administrator of CMS, Dr. Mehmet Oz, wrote that the findings raised questions about MaineCare’s oversight and “underscore the need for immediate corrective action and enhance transparency.”
Maine has been targeted by the Trump administration for several months as part of a broader campaign against Medicaid waste and fraud. While much of the administration’s attention to date has focused on Minnesota, the president and Oz have repeatedly called out Maine.
“There has been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” Trump said during his State of the Union address last month. “The number is actually much higher than that. And California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse.”
On Friday, Mills’ office formally responded to the 33 bullet points of information requested in Oz’s letter. The Mills administration said that much of the increased MaineCare spending flagged in the Feb. 6 letter from Oz was due to deliberate decision by the state to invest in programs, often with the support of CMS.
“As this response explains in detail, these intentional investments have helped to stabilize fragile provider networks, ensure compliance with federal access requirements and meet our ethical and legal obligations to allow Mainers to receive services at home and/or in their communities rather than in institutional settings whenever possible,” DHHS wrote in its response letter.
But Mills, who hopes to win the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins this fall, was more blunt (and political) in the video response released by her office.
The governor said the outcome of the federal inquiry was likely predetermined and accused the Trump administration of targeting Democratic-led states. She also went after both Trump — with whom she has repeatedly clashed — and Oz, a physician who rose to fame through his television program, The Dr. Oz Show.
“As district attorney, as your attorney general and as your governor, I have always cracked down on fraud,” Mills said. “I have been going after criminals since before Dr. Oz was on TV peddling fake supplements to the American people. And I have often worked hand in hand with the federal government because going after fraud should be a collective, professional effort between the state and federal government. But under this president, addressing alleged fraud has become a political cudgel that he is using to desperately distract from his failing agenda.”
Republican state lawmakers, meanwhile, have long accused the Mills administration and the Democrats who control the Legislature of ignoring waste and fraud concerns in MaineCare and slow-walking investigations.
House Minority Leader Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor said earlier this week that the federal inquiry into Maine was long overdue into a program that he said has “a pay-first, verify-later system in place in Maine.”
“The message from Washington is clear. The records are due, the audits continue and accountability cannot wait,” Faulkingham said on Tuesday, several days before DHHS filed its formal response. “The federal government believes the problems are significant and time-sensitive.”
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
