As hearings on Gov. Paul LePage’s biennial budget proposal continue through the end of this month and lawmakers search for ways to save the state money, no stone is being left unturned and nothing is off limits.
One part of LePage’s budget proposal is stirring the ire of some in Maine’s public health community. In an effort to generate new revenue sources and breathe life into the state’s faltering Medicaid program, MaineCare, the administration has included $18.1 million in cuts to the Fund for a Healthy Maine as part of its proposed budget.
LePage’s proposal would also make it easier in the future to redirect money from the Healthy Maine reserve for use in the state’s general fund by eliminating certain provisions.
The Fund for a Healthy Maine has long been revered as a source of stability to young parents, the elderly and low-income students. Each year it receives an infusion of around $50 million from a 1998 multi-state settlement with tobacco companies. Maine, unlike other states, has gone to great lengths to ensure that money goes to the fund for public health initiatives, including tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
But now, after the Affordable Care Act of 2009 passed by the federal government, the state government cannot meaningfully reduce enrollment or coverage in MaineCare and must find money to pay for the program as it exists, which means unprecedented reductions to the Healthy Maine reserve.
Cuts to the Fund for a Healthy Maine include an elimination of funding for family planning, which provides assistance to young adults in both the prevention and preparation for pregnancy.
The proposal would eliminate the forgivable loan program for dental students and a scholarship program for low-income students studying health professions at Maine’s community colleges.
Furthermore, it carves out $15 million from the Drugs for the Elderly and Disabled program, as well as a statewide wellness program intended to help first-time parents with at-home visits from healthcare professionals.
Though approximate numbers were not provided, a substantial portion of the youth population in the Bangor area alone is served by Planned Parenthood. It provides birth control, educational and gynecological services to a number of area youths under the age of 21 who provide payment through MaineCare, according to officials at Penquis Cap in Bangor.
Without such a service, officials say, the kind of care Planned Parenthood provides may otherwise be unaffordable to many of those it serves.
“Maine’s economy depends on bringing down the cost of health care for the state and for business,” said Becky Smith, a lobbyist with a group of more than 150 public health and social service agencies. “This is what the fund for a Healthy Maine is designed to do.”
Social services and health care are proving problematic for lawmakers as they search for ways to balance the budget and reduce red ink. Though unrelated to the proposal from the LePage administration, it was revealed Friday that the Department of Health and Human Services faces an audit from the federal government for Medicaid payments from 2006 to 2008.
The amount in question is $138.9 million. If the findings of such an audit are finalized, it could leave the state scrambling to pay the bill, according to Maine Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, who serves on the Appropriations Committee.
Rosen said lawmakers are also worried about the need to find $29.7 million to pay for mistakes in Medicaid programs for improper case management claims. Moreover, he said, the budget for Medicaid this year underestimated the increased use of its programs as a result of the recession.
Work on the budget is expected to continue through the end of this month. A two-thirds majority vote is needed for the budget to immediately take effect. If a simple majority vote is achieved then it will take 90 days after the legislature adjourns to take effect.
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