AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic lawmakers advanced a short-term 2025 budget Tuesday that fills a $118 million MaineCare funding gap, but the lack of Republican votes for the plan that their members negotiated means payments to health providers will be delayed.
Democrats who narrowly control the House of Representatives passed the supplemental budget Tuesday with a simple 74-71 majority amid lengthy debates and attempted amendments from Republicans who wanted their peers across the aisle to reinsert a provision that Gov. Janet Mills included to create an annual three-month limit on General Assistance per recipient.
Tuesday’s spending battle continued a theme in recent years of Democrats passing budgets without any Republican votes, and it foreshadows a contentious road ahead for lawmakers who must also pass a two-year budget by this summer to fund state government into 2027.
Mills, a Democrat, has proposed a $11.6 billion plan that fills a roughly $450 million shortfall but has already faced criticism from the right and left for mixing tax hikes with health-related cuts. Republicans are unlikely to vote for it, and the cuts have made Democratic lawmakers uneasy.
The supplemental budget faces further action in both chambers after the Tuesday vote in the House. If Democrats cannot find Republican votes, the Legislature will have to technically adjourn so the budget will take effect in 90 days. A two-thirds majority was needed for the new spending to become available immediately.
The MaineCare funding gap resulted from growing enrollment in the state’s Medicaid program, increasing use of its health care services since the COVID-19 pandemic and other cost increases from inflation and workforce challenges, the Mills administration said.
The Legislature’s budget committee initially had bipartisan agreement on the short-term plan after removing additional spending the governor’s office wanted in it that related to housing assistance limits, paid leave premiums and disaster recovery. The committee indicated the additional money could go in the two-year budget and also axed Mills’ attempts to reduce funding for crisis receiving centers and mental health liaisons for police, among other areas.
But Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, who missed last week’s budget committee vote while attending a high school basketball game with his stepdaughter, came out against it the following day and helped reveal internal Republican criticisms over why their appropriators went along with Democrats on the plan, which also includes $2 million to fight spruce budworm infestations.
“Feb. 11 is way too early to give up on compromise,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said Tuesday.
Reps. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, and Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, were among the House Democrats to note Tuesday that medical providers were looking to lawmakers for help.
“Republicans would be wise to support passage of the supplemental budget now and ensure that Maine health care providers receive the payments they need in a timely way,” Mills said in a statement.
Mills said she will work with lawmakers during two-year budget negotiations on a “much-needed” limit on General Assistance that is currently not capped annually. She also warned that a lack of Republican support for the short-term budget would temporarily withhold MaineCare payments to health providers. The $118 million for MaineCare will unlock an additional $296 million in federal funding, Mills said.
The Office of MaineCare Services emailed providers Monday to lay out the supplemental budget situation and how the state will need to temporarily withhold certain payments starting in March. The state’s health department has a plan to try to minimize pain for providers by capping certain payments at 70 percent their normal level, holding payments on claims that exceed $50,000, holding payments for large pharmacies and durable medical equipment suppliers and holding payments for out-of-state providers.
Maine Hospital Association lobbyist Jeff Austin said providers would not immediately get funding even if the supplemental budget passed with two-thirds support, as they are paid as they provide care. But Austin warned against not passing the plan, a sentiment echoed by the association of Maine nursing homes.
“That would be harmful to hospitals and unfair,” Austin said.
