Elections have consequences

Medicaid Work Requirements Rejected by Maine’s New Governor

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) notified the Trump administration on Tuesday that Maine won’t accept the terms of the pending Medicaid waiver submitted by former Republican Gov. LePage that would have applied onerous work requirements and reduced access to health care.

LePage’s waiver would also have required people who only use Medicaid to cover family planning to pay premiums, violating federal law prohibiting cost sharing for family planning services and supplies.

Mills instead directed officials in Maine’s department of health and human services (DHHS) to increase workforce training opportunities for MaineCare participants.

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Mills plans to bolster workforce training by increasing the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding for employment services; implementing a new Higher Opportunity for Pathways to Employment (HOPE) program to support families with low incomes; connecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to jobs through the state’s department of labor; and connecting all these recipients with the Maine CareerCenter system, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

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CMS approved LePage’s push for Medicaid work requirements in December. Republican governors across the United States have asked the Trump administration to approve similar requirements, which have made Medicaid inaccessible for thousands of people with low incomes. 

Almost 17,000 people in Arkansas have lost their Medicaid coverage due to GOP-backed work requirements. 

Last June a federal judge blocked Kentucky’s Medicaid work requirements after their legality was challenged. CMS has approved a new waiver there that’s also facing a lawsuit.

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Mills this month implemented the voter-initiated Medicaid expansion LePage tried to block in violation of the law. Maine was the first state to expand Medicaid via a ballot initiative in 2017. 

Mills’ first executive order this month asked Maine’s DHHS to swiftly implement the expansion, which has enrolled more than 1,500 eligible Mainers in health-care coverage under the program as of January 18.