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Chris Linder is the volunteer treasurer of the Penobscot Community Health Care board of directors. These views are his own and don’t reflect those of any group he is associated with.
I write to practical, rational Mainers, the majority, who remember that Obamacare was implemented by Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney before going national and now provides millions of Americans and thousands of Mainers affordable health insurance not found anywhere else. I have worked in healthcare finance and am on the board of a health center, Penobscot Community Health Care, that has had a few rough years post-COVID. The Bangor Daily News and other media have covered recent layoffs and financial losses at Northern Light Health and Covenant Health, the owner of St. Joseph Healthcare. MaineCare accounts for some 20 to 30 percent of revenues for these institutions to cover costs like salaries, and any cuts will exacerbate the problem.
A needed supplemental state budget of $118 million was approved by the Legislature’s budget committee, including Republican members, but has only passed the Legislature by simple majority to keep MaineCare payments whole. Currently, the budget would become effective 90 days after final approval without an emergency two-thirds majority vote for supplemental payments to begin now. The majority party, Democrats, do not control two-thirds of the Legislature.
There are several Republicans pushing colleagues to not pass the emergency budget for reasons largely unrelated to our health care system. If the supplemental budget is not passed with a two-thirds vote now, MaineCare payments will be cut for three months. I ask that we call our state senators and representatives to tell them to not go home until the emergency supplemental budget is passed, reinstating full funding for MaineCare, Maine’s version of Medicaid.
This is what will happen if MaineCare payments are cut for 90 days: Thousands of deserving Maine adults and children with MaineCare will be “de-prioritized,” essentially unwelcome to receive care. Accusations of massive fraud lack both truth and empathy.
Remember the healthcare financial losses and layoffs already announced before this unnecessary budget crisis? Further layoffs mean cutting direct medical services, providers, and facilities or entire organizations closing as some may not be able to survive 90 days with a 30 percent revenue cut. For those who say we should have medical care run by private companies, please look up: “Steward Health, Boston, fraud” for an example of enriching oneself before caring for peoples’ lives.
Some medical workers will see a crumbling system and a state government that does not support them. They may leave Maine, never to return (and telling their peers). There is a huge shortage of doctors and nurses throughout the U.S. – not just Maine. Massachusetts and New York await their arrival.
We think it is hard now waiting for callbacks, appointments, and urgent care or emergency room visits? We may soon find our child or mother cannot find care. People may die.
Every politician in Augusta who does not help pass the supplemental budget now, I believe, has not done their job, regardless of party. The behind-the-scenes negotiating is not working, and many in Augusta may see this unnecessary situation as inevitable and shrug their shoulders. I do not.
I see this as our “Dad saves kid at last second” moment (search it on YouTube). The politicians in this analogy are in their play truck, barreling down the hill into oncoming traffic until Dad (voters) saves them from themselves at the very last moment. Call your state senator and representative and ask that the emergency state budget pass immediately, reinstating full MaineCare payments and saving our healthcare system.
