AUGUSTA, Maine — The childless adults Gov. Paul LePage has proposed dropping from MaineCare are far from young and healthy, despite rhetoric to the contrary, according to a report released Monday by an advocacy group for the poor.
More than 40 percent of childless adults covered through MaineCare are older than 45 and many have serious medical conditions, states the report prepared by Maine Equal Justice Partners. Known as “noncategoricals” because they don’t fall under categories of mandatory coverage, the childless adult group consists of beneficiaries ages 21 to 64 who don’t qualify as disabled under federal guidelines and who have no dependents in the home.
“We think it’s critical that [lawmakers] have an accurate picture of who’s being served,” Sarah Gagne-Holmes, executive director of the left-leaning organization, said at a State House press conference Monday. “Despite the rhetoric that noncategoricals are young and able-bodied, the evidence is very different.”
Of members receiving services, 47 percent have a diagnosis of disease or cancer, 24 percent have a mental disorder and 11 percent were treated for injury or poisoning, according to April 2010 data cited in the report.
The report includes the personal stories of seven noncategorical adults who were identified through a network of organizations allied with Maine Equal Justice Partners, Gagne-Holmes said in an interview. Sandra Butler, a professor at the University of Maine School of Social Work, interviewed the seven participants, and Dr. Laurel Coleman, an attending physician at the Geriatric Assessment Clinic at Maine Medical Center who specializes in Alzheimer’s disease and palliative care, reviewed their medical conditions.
Adrienne Bennett, press secretary to Gov. Paul LePage, disputed the report, saying the average age of a noncategorical recipient is 40 years old.
“We’re not talking about the elderly and we’re not talking about the disabled,” Bennett said.
May statistics provided by the Department of Health and Human Services to the Bangor Daily News on the demographics of the noncategorical group list an average age of 40. Those ages 45 to 54 make up the single largest age group in the childless adult program, but 60 percent of beneficiaries are between 21 and 44, according to the data.
Bennett also said several MaineCare recipients who spoke at Monday’s press conference represent the exceptions rather than the norm. They were not among those interviewed for the report, who were promised confidentiality.
“The individuals we represented are illustrative of the conditions that many people on the noncategorical program have,” Gagne-Holmes said.
MaineCare never was intended to serve as universal health care, Bennett said. “It’s been branded as a way to provide affordable insurance to everyone, but we don’t have the money,” she said.
Calls and emails to Joel Allumbaugh, director of the Center for Health Reform Initiatives at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, were not returned by Monday evening. MHPC has been supportive of the governor’s proposed cuts.
The state expects to save about $22 million in fiscal year 2013 by eliminating noncategoricals from the rolls. The cuts would take effect on July 1, 2012.
The state also will forgo $37 million in federal funding while shifting that cost to the private sector, the report notes.
Noncategoricals represent about a third of the 65,000 Mainers facing a full loss of coverage under LePage’s plan, designed to close an estimated $220 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services budget over the next year and a half.
Michael Powers, 42, of Portland said at the press conference that he has gone from being a “hopeless statistic” to a “worthy competitor” in large part because of MaineCare. Less than three years ago, he was homeless. Now he’s in stable housing and taking classes at Southern Maine Community College. Powers said he wants a productive life where he has no need for MaineCare, but building one will be far more difficult if he loses health care coverage.
The number of childless adults on MaineCare has nearly doubled to 19,000 from about 10,000 at the beginning of 2010, though it remains lower than a peak of 24,000 in 2005. Another 14,000 to 16,000 childless adults remain on a waiting list for MaineCare, Stefanie Nadeau, director of MaineCare services, said in mid-December.
The report also points out that Maine is one of 20 states offering some form of coverage to low-income adults. Most of those states, like Maine, offer a package of limited Medicaid benefits, while others offer a full Medicaid package or similar set of benefits.
To be eligible in Maine, recipients must earn no more than the federal poverty level, or $10,890 annually for an individual. Those earning up to $32,670 qualify for more limited coverage under the state’s Dirigo Health program.
Dirigo doesn’t have the funding to cover the childless adults now receiving coverage through MaineCare, said Joe Bruno, chairman of the Dirigo Health Agency board.
“If all those people all of a sudden shift to Dirigo, we don’t have enough money to give out that subsidy,” he said.
Dirigo is funded through state dollars, while MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid, is a joint state-federal program.
Beginning in 2014, all states will be required to provide Medicaid coverage to eligible childless adults under the Affordable Care Act.
The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon to continue deliberations on the DHHS budget.
Bangor Daily News writer Eric Russell contributed to this report.
ANY study done by intelligent people will likely result in the same headline. In fact you folks at the BDN should keep this headline handyand so that you can simply keep cutting and pasting it at least 100 more times over the next three years.
And keep the photo too. It’s going to be a long three years.
” Sarah Gagne-Holmes, executive director of the left-leaning organization, said at a State House press conference Monday.” When was the last time that you read of the BDN referring to *any* organization as left-leaning, Still?
When was the last time that you read of the BDN referring to *any* organization as left-leaning, Still?
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Must be a new reporter……yep! ;-)
Dirigo Blue is reporting today that in his WCSH interview with Don Carrigan last week, LePage said the following about childless adults receiving MaineCare: “69% are 35 year old males. And so, and they’re not disabled in any way.”
It wasn’t necessary to do any research to know that quote was just plain wrong. To his own detriment, our Governor does not seem to have a knack for correctly remembering figures. Add to that the fact that he is a natural born storyteller (I’m trying to be nice here) and that he will say anything to get his way — and what you get is that there is little to no reason to trust this man about anything.
He needs to climb up a long steep slope to gain any credibility back — and I’m not sure he’ll ever make it .
That “long steep slope” is called a learning curve. This is what happens when ignoramuses are elected.
Ask any Texan in the last twenty years how that’s worked out.First GWB,then Perry.
You assume that remembering, or even using, facts is something that LePage WANTS to do. Mr. Pants-on-Fire (I wonder if he’s any relation to Mrs. Doubt-fire) has never met a lie he didn’t like. I can just imagine what it must have been like with him reporting to a board of directors.
He also said in that same interview that he was a really good actor. i.e., he tells lies in hopes that people will go along with his agenda.
The problem is that while you look for any misstatement by the governor you miss his overall message. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the statement attributed to him is either unintentional or was taken out of context. Of course those people whose ideas you support never make unintentional misstatements(?). I’m glad I don’t live in your household because I’d have no patience for your antics, especially so when you’re presumably an adult acting like an obstinate teenager.
It is one thing when a politician makes an occasional error such as spelling “potato” with an “e” on the end or implying people speak Latin in Latin America. It is entirely another thing when a politician repeatedly (and without retractions or corrections) utters untruths that serve to persuade people to support his agenda. Child labor laws, health insurance deregulation, the test scores of
Maine students, the LePage tax cuts, the economy, welfare, Medicaid,
energy, the mural — on virtually every issue that matters, the Governor
has made statements that are significantly misleading if not outright
untrue.
I think we can expect our elected officials to meet a higher standard.
Of course you can’t be serious when you refer to “Child labor laws… the LePage tax cuts….the murals as errors. His statements were more than 99% accurate. That’s not bad for a politician!
“More than 99% accurate?”
I rest my case.
Maine Equal Justice Partners sure put this together in a hurry didn’t they??
So unbiased I bet, one can’t help but wonder if they found the answer they were looking for.
read my response to this article
And LePage isn’t biased?
Not the point. You come up with a way to reduce costs to the taxpayer, LePage has. This problem was caused by Democrats in 2004. Irresponsible behavior always comes back to bite you in the …
Actually the problem goes even further back to the King Administration. From the massive expansion of these programs and the huge borrowing that was meant for roads and bridges actually having the money being dumped into the expansion. We are paying for the failures of the last 16 years of King & Baldacci with the help of Maine Democrat Legislature.
Could the problem also have started with LePage cutting taxes, mostly on the rich, by $200 million and then there is, surprise surprise, a $220 million funding shortfall for MaineCare.
Kinda like the $2 billion is tax cuts and credits for corporations and rich people in Wisconsin that then required a $2 billion in cuts to programs for the poor in Wisconsin. All Republican governors are following the play book of ALEC and they don;t even care if the people know about it.
Just a point of fact tax rates were cut for everyone. The problems always for Dem’s is that they over reach financially with other people money.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-maine-debt-clock.html
This is a state that is supposed to have a balanced budget.
So read their report, and then challenge it.
I notice you did not criticize LePage’s initial assertions in this regard. Maine Equal Justice Partners, apparently, have (has) done so.
I await your synthesis of these two disparate theses.
Shoot, he’s still struggling with the word synthesis….
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I found it curious that they chose data that’s almost 2 years old to cite in their report.
“Of members receiving services, 47 percent have a diagnosis of disease or cancer, 24 percent have a mental disorder and 11 percent were treated for injury or poisoning, according to April 2010 data cited in the report.”
Maybe that is the latest information available
Very appropriate photo. Love it.
This is a good lesson for younger voters: educate yourselves before believing a candidate’s lies. The Governor has been unable to push though any of his campaign promises, and seems unwilling to try anything that might create jobs.
LOL! Is that the, “I’m going to hold my breath until I get what I want face?”
I see it more as the “Doh!” face.
I see it more as, what my gramma used to say, the cat that ate the canary look.
No, it’s the, “One of these days Alice, pow, zip, bang, boom! To the Moon!” face, either that or his diaper was full.
Wait a minute – he did get one job FOR HIS DAUGHTER:)
Kinda. We know that his daughter gets 41K plus another 15K in great benefits via our tax dollars. As to whether or not she actually has a job to do or bothers to do it no one really can really say for sure.
First of all, you don’t know what she gets in benefits except a place to sleep in the governor’s mansion that probably would not otherwise be occupied. As to the work she does, I don’t follow her around to know. I do know however that she is a very capable spokesperson. And I doubt she’s relaxin’.
LePage should leave these people alone. To be qualified for social security disability is real hard to obtain for allot of these folks.
Yes, and many of them are waiting to be approved, it could take years. Some will be pushed to apply for Social Security.
“The study was put out by an advocacy group for the poor.” Hmmm…I’m sure its completely unbiased.
Probably as unbiased as the Maine Heritage Policy Center.
Equal Partners for Justice advocates for the poor, the disabled, single parents…all groups my religious faith draws me to care for. I support these groups through my church and donations to civic/nonprofit groups, but the need is just too great for voluntary action alone.
Please, I can point to MANY sources that point to how easy it is for people to qualify for SSDI. Do you want me to really gather them to prove my point?
Yes
yes, why not tell me how easy it is to get SSDI. You may think you have the answers, but I know how difficult it is to get SSDI. It takes years to qualify.
SSDI should not be a career choice, nor workmen’s comp, though it seems that about 30% of Maine’s population believes it should be. People can work with any number of health issues though their choices may be narrowed. Wake up people. We are broke and those of us who work (I have COPD, hypertension and heart disease) can no longer afford to carry you.
Would it help if your portion of the expenses were offset by a reduction in the alcohol, tobacco, and restaurant taxes?
What type of job is it that you have? When Social Security determines disability they also look at other occupations the disabled person could do. The more skills a person has (and the younger they are) the less of a chance of being awarded disability.
Perhaps that is what is wrong with SSDI. They should be looking at what someone could do, not what they have done. Thewre are many jobs that do not require intense manual labor. You do have to be willing to go through some retraining though.
There are so many kinds of disability. Lack of muscle strength is just one small potential aspect of disability.
There are very, very few such jobs in Maine, though. Even cashiering would be too much for most of these people. Very few retailers will allow cashiers to sit between customers or use a stool. Also, when you have 50 people applying for one low paying part time job who do you think will be hired? The older person with health problems who will require more flexibility and special accommodations or the 20 something young person who is healthy?
And we all know tht employers are looking for people they have to train instead of people already trained and with experience
Not that I disagree with your assumptions. They just bring a lingering question to mind.
Everyone says they should all just find a job. Where are all these jobs? Governor LePage has claimed that there are 22,000 jobs going unfilled in Maine. Where? Do they pay a living wage? Can a family of 4 survive on the wages?
It has been well publicized that North Dakota has a lot of job openings. They don’t have enough housing available to house those who would go there for a job. Yet everyone tells us that the poor should all run there. I wonder what they are supposed to do to feed themselves when they get there. With no credit, no references, no money, etc. This isn’t the old west, where you could just put a tent anywhere you wanted and become a squatter. Today you would be locked up for tresspassing and vagrancy.
http://www.nber.org/aginghealth/fall06/w12436.html
It took about twenty second to find this. You obviously need a better lawyer.
Why would I need a better lawyer. I own a business. It takes up to three years before a lawyer even plays a roll for SSDI.
You’re wasting your time. Anything that goes against hating on and blaming someone for needing help of any kind will just be ignored. Someone from SSI could post on here and they still wouldn’t believe them.
Yes.
It took two full years for my disabled daughter to be approved for SSI after she turned 18. She has a genetic disorder that was confirmed by blood tests. She’d been hospitalized multiple times and had a lengthy medical history. SSI is easy to get? No way.
Yes, please
Indeed. Please share your infinite knowledge so all can be enlightened.
The fact is everybody’s experience with ‘the System’ is different as everyone has different needs.
Most people applying for SSDI, or any public assistance for that matter, learn by simply diving in and end up flying by the seat of their pants. You’d think it was some highly sensitive Top Secret formula. You literally have to pry information from the people who have it.
Seriously. Junkies on the street, who routinely share information figure this stuff out faster than someone who’s recently diagnosed with an auto-immune illness after years of debilitating symptoms OR yes, even cancer and suddenly has to stop working. It’s frightening. Especially, when there’s little or no support from family, (former) friends, or community. It literally can stop a person in their tracks.
People assume that if you don’t appear obviously ill or crippled, you must be OK and able to work. It’s simply not so – for a majority of applicants.
The sanctimonious posters here who think they are the real WebMDs and have their finger on the pulse of what people must do and are doing, legitimately or otherwise, to survive need to get a life and mind their own business.
There’s’helping and not helping.
Having decided NOT to help, one is then left with only two things;
1. Feel guilty OR
2. Make a career out of blaming the the persons who need help.
In other words, contribute something of value or get the Hell out of the way and keep your uninformed opinions to yourselves..
Just sayin’….
Seriously. Junkies on the street, who routinely share information figure this stuff out faster than someone who’s recently diagnosed with an auto-immune illness after years of debilitating symptoms OR yes, even cancer and suddenly has to stop working. It’s frightening. Especially, when there’s little or no support from family, (former) friends, or community. It literally can stop a person in their tracks.
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…so, wouldn’t the prudent thing to do be to ‘get the junkies on the street OFF Mainecare, SSDI, GA, SNAP, etc. so that those who are truly ill and severely disabled can get the help they may need?”
You missed the point, being, people who are not ‘junkies on the street’ and are characterized as such, nonetheless, simply by virtue of choosing to apply for essential assistance in order to survive, have needless difficulties gathering required information so that they can be in a position to comply with mandated criteria which is often confusing, to say the least.
People assume that all applicants are potentially nothing more than lazy parasites who want to leach off the public. It’s not true. For most people ,the welfare office is the last place they want to be or ever expected to find themselves.
Instead of starting from a position of seeking/providing ‘help’, widely accepted prejudices and practiced protocols send a message that anyone asking for financial assistance is automatically suspect and undeserving.
The comments here reflect such sentiments daily.
Ignorance can be very hurtful and destructive because it victimizes those lease in a position to withstand it, again and again.
It’s called ‘kicking someone when they are down ‘and the people who do it are nothing more than cowards.
You have to be on a waiting list for a year while you go bankrupt.
But, if you qualify you get all the money back from the date you first applied. I’ve seen many people go wild with that money. If they were hurting financially I’d think they would have used the back money to dig themselves out. It’s their choice what to do with the money — Just saying they do get a huge lump sum once they do qualify.
I’ve heard of this happening and always wonder why they don’t have to pay back the assistance they received ….or at least a portion. If it was a private insurer paying you till you received disability they would get that back pay. I know from experience.
Now the private insurers are saying they will not pay claims unless they receive their premium payments up front. So this probably won’t be an issue.
It’s considered income the month the receive it and an asset the month after they receive it. They have several months to either purchase things that don’t count toward the asset limit, like a working furnace or roof repairs and clothes, or it is counted as an asset the following months until it is depleted. $6,000 might sound like a lot of money for a disabled person to receive all at once, but remember that they probably owe a lot more than that because they’ve been unable to work, and may have financial obligations from before they were disabled. Having health care coverage doesn’t put money in their pockets. It reduces the cost to the rest of us to keep them healthy and hopefully eventually return them to work.
I personally know someone with severe Lupus who had to wait over 3 years to finally get disability. It was extremely difficult for their family to make it through that time they had to wait.
And what of those people who have no family?My friend’s list of illnesses is too long to list here and he waited more than 3 years. He was homeless during that time while waiting for his appeal and is a decorated veteran.These are the people who are being hurt.
Yes…I know of a few people who have been in the same situation. Many of them are veterans. It’s disgusting how hateful some of the comments on here are.
What does qualifing SSDI have to do with this??? Governor Paul LePage doen’t control weather you qualify or not.. The fear train is alive and well… I suspect that I might need the services someday and want them to be there… I will respect the program and be grateful for it.. I will not use it for hangnails or a sniffle… This is why Our Governor Paul LePage needs to fix the program now, so it will be around for years to come and if I ever need it….
Allot of these people you may not want on Maine Care are homeless war veterans. this is the only help they get seeing counselors. How do I know one of my family members is their therapy counselor. Until you walk in someone shoes you should not judge
Allot of these people you may not want on Maine Care are homeless war veterans. this is the only help they get seeing counselors.
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Veterans should be covered under the full range of VA services available. VA covers EVERY veteran, wartime service or peacetime, retired or even serving the minimum time, and whether the disability is service related or not. If a veteran becomes disabled with a non-military service related illness or injury or disease, he or she doesn’t have to apply for SSI or SDI, the VA has a disability pension that they award, and the wait time is shorter than SSI and SSDI.
What about the twenty year old’s that have mainecare, that are able to work but to lazy, thinking the state owes them everything.
yea cause none of them are full time students trying to get a degree or anything with parents who don’t have health care coverage. Its got to be that they are ALL lazy.
yea cause none of them are full time students trying to get a degree or anything with parents who don’t have health care coverage.
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Colleges, yes even Community College, offer very low cost health insurance to students (it was offered to my daughter 2 years ago—about $20. a month) and it can be paid for with the loans/financial aid/scholarships/work-study.
i am 59 childless. disabled i have high bloodpressure right diastolic congestive heart failure. type two diabetes and a leaky mitral valve i am in the group that was discussed in this article
Mainecoonc9, as you read these pages, please note that human beings go mad in herds.
Best wishes.
I can’t agree with your statement that people aren’t going mad in herds. It’s never been this bad. Are you in denial HeartofSky, or just another example of social engineering roadkill? Don’t drink the tea or look them in the eye. Don’t try to tell them anything. It only stirs them into a cruel, heartless frenzy and their lust for the pain of the defenseless, the poor, the elderly, the sick, the imprisoned, the young, and everybody that doesn’t drink the tea and agree with them. They are the promised plague, the end of the world everybody has been saying would come in 2012. And their Dam Proud of it! Just ask anyone of them. Be careful not to ask two at the same time or they’ll explode all over you and everybody else. And whatever you do, don’t show them evidence of their depraved indifference. It fuels them like pouring gasoline on a Bar-B-Q grill. They know the evidence is fake, because they know everything. Don’t bother them with silly stuff like, “So how is it again that not spending $22 million resulting in a cost to us of $37 million will eliminate our imaginary $221 million deficit?” It makes them rabid. They become rabid and go on an unstoppable viscous attack on whoever can’t defend themselves.
Whoops! Heart of Sky, you said that human beings DO go mad in herds.
Never mind.
I would like to know where the 220 million is supposed to come from. The deficet is a direct result of the last eight years of rubber stamping any way to spend tax dollars. Oh yeah tax the rich all five of them left in taxation land.
How about reversing the $200 million in tax cuts mostly for the wealthy that LePage put thru last year
Good point.
LePage is taking the same path other Koch-supported Governors have done of late. They push through a massive tax cut for the wealthiest among us and THEN say they have to cut services for the poor – primarily disabled adults, poor children and the elderly frail.
I suppose that a person who is earning $19,500.00 is wealthy in someones opinion but that is the the ammount that a single needs to earn to be at the top tier of state of Maine income tax 8.5%. I also am to assume that you missed the part that 76,000 people no longer going to have to pay any income tax at all. I don’t beleive that any of them are wealthy.
Did you read what Pokeyboy said? The tax cuts for cut rate poverty stricken people like you isn’t in the mix except to throw you a few bucks while these rich people are having trouble finding ways to donate millions of dollars to charity to lower their tax burden. Only trouble is, if they donate it to the Election Campaign Finances of LePage which are non-profit front public/private front organizations and these organizations get prosecuted along with LePage (and they will, just ask the Election Ethics Committee) they’ll have to pay taxes on all that money of 30% and chase these LePage ALEC crooks to get their money back. I say, don’t give them the tax breaks in the first place, especially since it’s so obvious most of them are going to spend it to get LePage reelected so he can take more health care and heating from more poor Mainers who really simply can’t afford it through no fault of their own.
I’m wasting my breath. I can tell. Don’t bother to share your opinion online if you aren’t willing to read anybody else’s opinion.
Cancel an F-16?
Do they make fighter planes in Maine and if they do how many people does it take to build one?
If you are disabled I don’t think you are in this group.
Mainecoonc9 has disabilities but is not considered disabled enough to qualify for MaineCare in the disability group, nor would he/she qualify for Social Security disability benefits. There’s a very high standard of disability to qualify for either.
Seems like many things will need to be looked at. Obviously someone that is suffering from serious illnesses should be covered. Perhaps they’ll put a stipulation in that gives the doctor some say in who has needed and will continue to need close medical care. Those people are as important as those young mothers that choose not to go back to work after having children.
As long as they use the definition of “disability” used by the Social Security Administration, a great number of people will be cut off from medical care.
This is the biggest problem with these tea party politicians. They are seriously radical and, well, stupid. They aren’t informed about things at all. In fact, they are of the belief that everyone who gets help is in some way abusing the system and they are hell bent on trying to dismantle all of the things that help the poor and needy. Not too long ago there was a story about a woman on oxygen…OXYGEN for God’s sake! She would lose Mainecare too, and people on here were saying some really hateful things, saying she needed to get a job and stop being a lazy deadbeat. My Gosh, these people even want people who can’t breathe without medical intervention to be kicked off Mainecare because they might get a couple extra pennies in their paycheck each month. WTH has our society come to for people to think like that? Most of these same people will rant and rave about prayer not being allowed in school, or the use of Holiday instead of Christmas or how same sex marriage is against the teachings of the bible. How convenient for them to overlook all those biblical messages of caring for and loving all of God’s children and having a charitable heart that shares to help others. These jokers are all going to rot in hell.
I think having a charitable heart is great, I’ve got one too.
However what I don’t like the the government both state and federal TAKING my hard earned money, by force and threat of imprisonment if I don’t comply.
When the taxes and fees I’m charged to keep the non-productive people in this world fed,housed and insured starts cutting into my ability to pay for these things for my family, THATS where the problem is.
Who will you complain about when the costs are shifted to your insurance provider, or if you pay cash for medical services, you. Will you then just throw up your hands and say you can’t afford your own health care?
the problem is when the gov take my hard earned money and steals it and gives it to the rich and then taxes me more and taxes the rich less. I’ll feed the indigent anyday!!!
Your taxes would be less if the insanely rich and large corporations paid their fair share. Even if all programs were ended and poor and sick people were allowed to just starve and die it would NOT lower your taxes. That money would just be spent somewhere else and tax breaks would be given to those who don’t need them.
If these people are taken off Mainecare the cost will go directly to people like you in higher costs until you can no longer afford health care. Under Affordable Care law all of these people LePage wants to kick off Mainecare will need to be covered under Maincare starting in 2014. By kicking them off Maine would lose $37million in order to save $22million. That means the state would have to come up with an additional $15million in funds that would be lost.
There is absolutely nothing logical about what LePage wants to do.
Too bad about that part about you’re wanting to be a citizen and enjoy all the benefits, but when it comes to paying….
No there isn’t. Everybody is getting on disability these days. Duh.
According to the government’s own numbers 2/3 of people are turned down on their first try at disability.In Atlanta,the wait time for a hearing is 963 days-almost three years!And if you want to complain about liberals like I know you do-here are the facts.I know you hate those.
Original ADA act signed into law in 1990 by -GHWB!
Amendment which greatly expanded said act and allowed for many more categories signed into law in 2008 by -GWB!
at night i have gloom and doom dreams all this krap going on depresses me. mainecare not enough oil with Lheap. had two dreams last night very vivid. one being with a group of people about to be killed by terrorist and the second a dream about the world coming to end . i am not on bathsalts. to many bad things going on in the world . all the krap .i really find it hard to trust people these days .
Have no fear!
Maine Equal Occupy Organic Justice League Non Profit Partners Conservation Protection for Caring Kindness Vegans Against Discrimination Violence will be your advocate!
That’s MEOOJLNPPCPCKVADV for short!
Let’s Protest!
Best post ever, man.
People need to hear and see more folks like you. I’m so sorry that this state elected someone that feels no one has the right to live unless your rich.
So according to LePage you won’t be hurt by the cuts.Don’t bet on it.I wish you better health and success.
Impeach Him!
One term and out is the best we can hope for.
The unisured, earning less than eleven thousand certainly can not afford health care. Who is the Govenor, Adrienne Bennett?
If you are only earning that amount, you are not working 40 hours a week. Everyone has a choice, live with your choice and stop asking hard workers to pay for your short comings.
Me? When did we start talking about me?
I’m sorry, I thought you were speaking from experience. My bad.
Your something…….
Like sliced bread?
Sliced bread and cow turd sandwich! Sour milk on the side.
Maine use 150%-200% above the federal guide lines for poverty and just being poor doesn’t qualify you for mainecare.
And again, the Penguin administration gets caught lying.
you believe everything you hear from a liberal lobbying group?
You believe everything you hear from a penguin?
If these people go from MaineCare to Dirigo (or nothing), it looks like another case of penny wise and pound foolish (and not too wise at that, even for “pennies”).
You don’t make any sense:)
Hang out at local ED or Doctors office and watch. Then go to your local fair and watch these same poor souls living it up, walking and having a grand time. No not everyone abuses the system I agree, but there are many that do.
I would like to know why obesity is a disability. Hooked on drugs is a disability. Lung cancer from smoking is a disability. Why is it that when an unwed unemployed female gets pregnant, she and the baby gets mainecare? I understand the child getting it but why does the mother get it after she gives birth? All of these are bad choices made by free people who now want the tax payers to foot the bill for their poor choices in life. It wont be long before nobody is working and paying into the system. Who will take care of the bums then?
How much good does it do the baby if it’s mother gets sick from inadequate postpartum care?
Pregnant mothers and those that have delivered their child (postpartum) are covered anyway…they along with their child will be cared for — they should be cared for until they can get out to work and either contribute or get off completely. The problems is when they believe it is their right not to have to work and stay home with their child. This is an option if your able to financially cover doing that. We would all like to have that option. I think people get upset when not only do they have one child while on state help, they have another and sometimes another. Why would they do that when they know they can’t support the children? I believe all children should be covered regardless of parental income, this would take care of all children getting the health care they need. As far as parents or other adults are concerned I believe that everyone should have to contribute in whatever amount they can.
How about this? If you don’t have a job, and no means to support a child, and you get pregnant you have to give it up for adoption. Then the child nor the dead beat mother has to be on the state. Look at all the money this would save. Then the disabled and the elderly could all be taken care of properly. O.M.G., How simple is that? Come on all you freeloaders, start bashing.
So should things stay status quo? I don’t think that mothers should be made to give up their children, but they should have to attempt to support them. I don’t understand the mentality of having numerous children without regard as to how they are going to be supported. I guess I’ve missed something if the State is supposed to be the sole supporter of all those that chose to stay home and have as many babies as they want. I’m not even suggesting that they give up their free state help, just work a little to help put something back into the system for others.
But, I do believe that people that are disabled and/or our elderly population should not have to worry about their healthcare. They are not in a position to work (although I see many people over retirement age bagging groceries in hannaford — the irony of the situation is that these 70-75 year olds are bagging and carrying out groceries for those younger people that chose to have children they had no intention of working to care for. Kind of a sad situation. Everyone should have to contribute…If a retirement age individual is bagging groceries for 7.50 an hour why can’t a person who chose to have children?
Sounds great–do you have kids? Let’s say your daughter has a decent job and gets fired. She’s pregnan and has a toddler. She can’t make ends meet. The government barges into her home and removes her child–being poor makes her an unfit mother, after all. As soon as she gives birth, your other grandchild is put up for adoption.
Are you assuming you yourself would step in and pay for the living expenses of your daughter and child? What if you lost your own job? What if you’d become ill, or were hit by a truck?
If you would slow down and read my post you would see my side of it. I’m talking about the ones who think that welfare is a way of life. Not the ones who fell on hard times. And yes I would pay my daughters and grandchild’s living expenses until she was on her feet. And in fact am doing it now. That’s what family is all about. But it looks like you would rather have the government take care of your family. Good luck with that because the gravy train is about to derail.
You seem to have missed the part of my comment about what would happen if you died or lost your job. How would you feel about the state putting your grandchild up for adoption, simply because your daughter was poor?
It sounds like you don’t support LePage’s proposal at all- you support efforts to increase policing of welfare/MaineCare/food stamp fraud. I have a feeling that everyone involved in this comments discussion would be in favor of that. If you can find someone who disagrees with you and wants welfare fraud to stay the same or increase, I would be very surprised.
If you think that 45 year olds with cancer or mental disability are scamming the system and LePage’s proposal would correctly deny them medical assistance, that’s a different story, but I think that’s a hard point of view to defend. Otherwise, it looks to me like we’re all on the same side. :)
There are already too many children waiting for adoption.The adoptive parents have to jump through hoops no birth parent ever has to go through.We need more reproductive services and fewer kids overall.My neighbor has five kids, all of whom have some “problem” or another.You,I and everyone else is paying for those kids while he has a nice new Durango -and it isn’t from earning a living!Conservatives who won’t support abortion have cost us all billions and have never answered for it.And yes,your statement about having to give up the child is accurate.If it’s my money involved,I get a voice too.
“A Modest Proposal” redux.
I have a better solution…just castrate every man who doesn’t pay child support and throw them in jail. I just love how you hurl hatred towards single mothers but ignore the fact that we aren’t talking about immaculate conception here. How about blaming the useless men who refuse to step up and be men and support their children?
No woman gets pregnant by herself. In order to receive TANF a single mother HAS to work, go to school or volunteer full time once her child is a certain age. Why not do the same thing with the fathers who aren’t supporting their children? Force them to work to contribute to the care of their children they help make or throw them in jail
Now let me get this straight…
You hang out at emergency rooms, and doctors’ offices, and then follow up on these patients and how they live?
That’s just a bit of a reach, no?
When you live in a small town (which in Maine many of us do) its easy to see the same people occasionally — ya know you bang into them places — Just saying!
I’m stuck on “then go to your local fair…” Now that’s living it up!
Because you know that’s the first place I would go to live it up… a local fair lol. “I saw him at the Ren Fair, he was eating a lamb shank and drinking mead!!! Living it up with wenches!!” lol
Oh please, really?
?? Tastefully Simple”??
I know, that isn’t really informative. She works in the IT department at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.
It seems completely reproachable to me to think she can judge recipients of MaineCare based on what they do at a county fair once a year. I wish people who have (and are at risk for) health problems made healthier choices, too, but that doesn’t mean I want to deny a huge, diverse group of people access to medical care just to punish the ones who make bad decisions.
Edit: Just to make this clear since Tiredoffools edited her post, originally her reply contained some personal information including her name, phone number, and the name of a sales company she’s connected to. Since it looked like she was trying to show something about her work background, I checked to see how she was affiliated with a hospital. I’ll remove the details from this post if she wants.
Oh, right, I forgot, if you can walk, you can’t qualify for SSDI. What are you, a FOOL? Because someone is on SSDI they’re supposed to confine themselves to a room and waste away? They’re not supposed to ever laugh or have a good time?
How do you know that they are on Mainecare do you follow them into the ED and doctors office and watch them do their paperwork? Some people go to the doctors office for yearly exams or blood work and can still have a grand time at the fair. It’s strange how some people make assumptions all the time and think they know how others are living.
Maybe I work in one.
You see disabled people walking and having fun and decide they’re frauds? I agree that some people are frauds, but what you offer isn’t proof.
The LePage Administration has shown either an inability to come up with numbers to show the
Appropriations Committee or even worse has them and will not release them to the committee. Why is it that almost everyday we hear Adrienne Bennett, press secretary to Gov. Paul LePage disputing someone else’s numbers? What numbers is Ms. Bennett working with? If the Administration has numbers which, unless Ms. Bennett is just categorically calling every group that comes forward with numbers liars, prove what Ms. Bennett and the Governor have been telling us why won’t they provide them to the committee. Wouldn’t the easy cure for all of this to be for the LePage Administration to provide cold hard facts, backed up by numbers that would prove that what the Governor is saying is in fact true?
The true numbers will come out in time and it may show a bigger problem than most think. The DHHS was there a long time before the governor was elected. The governor is not a king…..the law makers will hopefully do the right thing once they get all the info.
The numbers should have already come out. How is the administration able to say there will be a $220 million shortfall when they can not provide the numbers to back it up? You say the Governor is not a king and I agree with you. However he is acting as if he is a king and feels that all he has to do is issue a proclamation and the legislature has to take him at his word. That is not the way government works and the posturing is really getting old. Remember the old commercial “where’s the beef”? Well in Maine it is “where’s the numbers?” Speaking of “where’s the beef” got her all put away did you?
yep
There is nothing compassionate about signing up someone for an unsustainable program and pulling the rug out from under them 10-15 years down the line when the program is no longer affordable. This is precisely the situation the democrats in this state (and many others) have developed over the last few decades for the rest of us to now suffer through. And this is only the beginning. The amount of unfunded, dependency programs out there will only grow as the economy gets worse and worse. People simply have no idea the type of economic difficulties we have in store. It will be truly sad to see what our centrally planned monetary system along with our debt-derived, fiat currency will do to those who have become overly dependent upon the ill-fated system.
They shouldn’t still be on it 10-15 years down the road. It really isn’t any different than if your hired at a job that offers benefits and with budget cuts those benefits get less and less. Many people have lost their jobs and healthcare benefits. Its not that it wasn’t fair or that the “rug was pulled out from under them” the company just couldn’t afford to keep running things in the same manner. The state has reached a point where they can no longer afford to give to so many people. Perhaps if each one of these folks would go out and get a 20 hour a week job — doing anything and contributing then more people could be helped. At 20 hours a week they wouldn’t lose their healthcare but it would help with the pot of money to pay for that free healthcare.
Maybe they should crawl out back and expire–Republican healthcare plan
Who should crawl out back and expire? Why is it so wrong to think that the more people who contribute to the system the more people can be helped by it?
(Republican death panels …)
Pelosi and company put the death/healthcare panels in the health care bill
Democratic Healthcare plan/ pass it then we will read whats inside it.. How much sense did that make.. and yes there are panels to decide how you will be treated or if you will be treated.. God you libs care take credit for anything..
No there are not. Stop believing everything you hear from the fanatics on the right.
I don’t listen to the right nor the left.. truth and fact is where that came from..
Sure doesn’t sound like it…
Plus Lepage needed to give these poor CEO $200 million in tax relief. You know those large vessels are expensive to maintain:)
20 hrs a week at 7:50 an hr what good will that do ??
If your getting free rent, food, healthcare, electric and heat — working 20 hours a week won’t jepordize you losing that — but it will put some more tax money into the system for others to benefit from. Too many people aren’t contributing — there’s not enough people working to keep things going the way they are. If the person will still get all their state aid why shouldn’t they work for 7.50 an hour for 20 hours a week? They’re being self centered if they have the attitude that sitting on their butts is better than working for 7.50 an hour. With that attitude they are not better than the people on here that want to take it all away. They should work for whatever they can to help out the person next to them that might need help too.
Those only working 20 hrs a week most likely will not pay hardly any money in an if they do they will get it all back .
Doesn’t really matter does it…they’d be off their couches and contributing. How and when do they make that move from stay at home mom and dad to working people? Whatever they can contribute is a start. If we all had the attitude that it doesn’t matter whether we work or not because we’re not raking in the money then the state would be worse off then they are now.
Than why don’t the usa get all those real jobs back that was sent over seas. So you say its ok to work for nothing ? 20 hrs a week is not a real job at 7:50 an hr
Their sitting on the there couches earning nothing. Oh wait they do get free rent, food, medical and heat — o.k. I guess I get where your coming from it doesn’t make much sense for them to HAVE to get out of bed before 9 and out of their warm houses to work for “nothing” So I guess its o.k. for these folks to have the mindset that they don’t have to work to help others that might need some assistance. And to think the workers are being called unfair on this blog because they even hint at everyone (who is capable) should work.
Could you support yous self of 20 hrs a week at 7:50 an hour ?? i bet not
I’m sure that if you worked for 20 hours a week at 7.50 an hour you wouldn’t lose any state help — Look up the guidelines for one person or two (in the case where you may have a child) either way you’d still get the help. No where did I imply that you’d be living on just what you worked for. Working would mean that you’d be paying into the system so others could also get help. Do you think its a way of life and your entitled to not contribute at all but rather just take? Help a little instead of grabbing it all.
At 20 hrs a week you will not be paying into the system you will get back all the tax money you paid in
yes, you already said that…but you are still missing the point that “justbeing” is trying to make. Those getting “free food, free rent, free heat, etc. should be going out to WORK 20 hours a week so they can get back into the habit of EARNING their keep. They can get experience that then qualifies them to improve their situation, get a better job, etc, so that they can get off the gravy train instead of making it their ‘career’.
Does unfunded, criminal war trouble you as well?
Yeah, and the CEO’S need more money to pay for their estate on the Maine coast – poor CEO, they should send some money to the Buffoon Lepage so he can continue to help their life style:)
Its their money not yours.
What is the data source and backup documentation for this alleged study? Doesn’t BDN think that would be a reasonable question to ask Equal Partners?
And LePage skates on your same question?
Oh come on Maine Equal Justice did their research. But did LePage do his before crying wolf? Seems he forgot to get the dollar amount correct and neither can Commr. Mayhew according to her own words last Friday when DHHS could not provide the Legislative Budget Committee w/adequate data and the meeting was postponed. It would be nice if all this was about just numbers but its about people, people who are damaged and who need our support and help.
Mayhew does not have the qualification to operate the department. Her previous job was to simply lobby for an organization – not fact just repeat the lie and soon the lie if repeated enough people believe it! So is not qualified to operate the department!
Nice try anyone can do a survey and screw the results to benefit their bleeding heart liberal butts! He’s cutting off your methadone too bad get over it! An addiction is not cured when you simply substitute another drug for it! Do you actually think we are going to pay for your methadone for the next 50 + years NO! The druggies stop here! Throw them in a big ol’ jail cell and haul out the ones that don’t kick the addiction and send them to the morgue!
what do you think it costs to keep someone in jail for a year ?
Can they stay at your house?
I believe Lepage would like that.
I appreciate that BDN defines Maine Equal Justice Partners as a “left leaning organization”.
I hope in the future they will remember to add “a corporate lobbying group” whenever they have Maine Heritage Policy Centers stories.
Time for everyone to share the expense. I pay almost 200.00 a week for family health insurance. I pay a deductable and after that is reached 80/20, I also pay a co-pay for prescriptions. Mainecare is free or very low (like 3.00 per prescription, etc.) I don’t think that the free insurance should be better than what most working people get. Along with this I get to pay my own rent, food, electric, heat, etc. something that many of those on mainecare get for free too. I don’t disagree with helping people, just think that people that aren’t contributing at all to their own wellbeing shouldn’t carry a better insurance than those that are contributing.
I also do get why if there are two parents in the household neither one is required to find a job. Both can be covered by mainecare and all the other freebies. I know that people believe its their ‘right’ to stay home with their children but how many two parent households can afford for both parents to stay home — especially when the kids are in schoold all day. And then if they have any kind of behavior problem they get a one on one worker through Atlantic or Sweetser or some other agency (at the cost of 25.00 an hour per kid) to give their parents a break. Give me a break — if you want to stay home and watch you kids then collect all the freebies but do you really need to have your kids with workers for up to 20 hours a week to give you a break? Yes, I see it every day at the local YMCA — the workers bring the kids in right after school and “hangout” all afternoon then take them home when its about time for bed. Anyone that goes to a YMCA or local park in the summer can see the same thing.
You are right.
The problem is that everyone is simply a bad person.
Including their descendants, anscestors, and decedents.
The solution is simple:
Let’s just get rid of poor people, forever.
Didn’t say anyone was a bad person — people should help each other, including those that need or want it for free. They can do something is it fair for them to have the option to just stay home and do nothing while others work. It doesn’t make “poor” people bad people — Lazy people are not fair people thats all. If everyone helped by working a little and putting taxes back into the system not only those that are served now could continue to receive help but others could also. Your comment shows your ignorance.
Where on earth does the idea that most people on mainecare are lazy??? I know a lot of people who are on mainecare. They work as hard as their disabilities allow. They don’t want to be sick they want to work and care for their families. It is cruel and wrong to call them lazy.
I’m not talking about “most” people…don’t just pick out A word and run with it. I’m certainly not talking about people with disabilities. I’m talking about people who refuse work because it doesn’t pay enough or they just don’t want to do it. If you don’t have anything and are living off others (and your capable) then you shouldn’t refuse to help yourself. People who have children that are in school all day should work at least while their kids are in school. Why shouldn’t they help themselves out?
I’ve actually met very few genuinely lazy people. Sure, there are a few out there, no doubt, but there are a lot fewer genuinely lazy people out there than many of the comments on here would suggest. From the outside looking in a lot of people look lazy, but looks can be very deceiving. Not all illnesses and diseases have visible identifiers. Most of the few jobs that are to be had are quite physically demanding.
Most of the adults receiving mainecare services are not young healthy people who could easily go find work. Some have obvious diseases that make it difficult for them to lead a normal life easily. Many have mental health problems that aren’t as obvious unless you REALLY know them. I’ve worked with many severely and chronically mentally ill people who looked and appeared to be perfectly healthy UNTIL I got to know them and talked to them more and realized that they were very, very ill. Even some of the more manageable mental illnesses like depression or anxiety have varying levels of severity. When it’s bad it’s really, really bad and those who have these conditions can be essentially paralyzed by the symptoms. Just keep in mind that just because someone looks healthy doesn’t mean they are. To complicate things even further…most substance abusers are actually abusing substances to self medicate a mental illness of some sort and have just never been diagnosed or gotten treatment. Parents need to seek help for their children when they see signs that something is wrong. That would go a long way in building a healthier and more productive youth population.
It would probably be much more helpful to try respectfully explaining why it’s a bad idea to take these people off Mainecare than it is to just be nasty towards people. It’s not okay to kick poor people when they’re down…and it’s no better to kick struggling people who are trying to keep from falling down. We’re all in this together and it’s really high time people start talking TO each other instead of yelling AT each other.
All that being said…LePage is not good for Maine. Sure, there are a lot of things that need to be fixed in this state but the WORST way to go about fixing things is what LePage is attempting to do. He isn’t very bright, for starters, and he lacks the ability and/or willingness to look at the consequences of these things he wants to do. He’s too irresponsible and careless. His level of ignorance is really far more dangerous than just leaving things as they have been. Republicans have GOT to start distancing themselves from the radicals in their party because the GOP has moved so far out of the mainstream that they aren’t even recognizable any longer.
Note to self: Maybe a larger font would be helpful.
I have to ask, do you think you are getting your money’s worth from your employer-sponsored health insurance? You say you’re paying $10,400 a year plus deductibles and co-pays. That’s outrageous! Did you know that over $3,000 of you health insurance premiums goes straight into an insurance CEO’s pocket? While the welfare recipients you are griping about receive only pennies on the taxpayer’s dime. It’s time we all advocate for universal health care.
I’ve looked into buying it privately but its even more. The deductable is only 250.00 a year for each person. Would go without it but with two kids in college I’d have to pay insurance at the schools which isn’t cheap and doesn’t cover much. I guess until they get out of school this is what we have. I am griping because they aren’t required to give back at all. They should have to work at least some — if everyone paid into the system perhaps more people could recieve help. Griping I guess is my right — much in the same way sitting at home and doing nothing to help themselves is their right.
Thanks for your reply. $250 is a very low deductible. FYI I am uninsured and when my kids were in college it was only $500 per semester for them to be insured, so you might want to look into that.
Thanks — I’ll do that, guess I just assumed it would be expensive.
no, it’s fairly cheap—my daughter was offered it two years ago (actually a year and a half) at somewhere around $20. or $25. a week for the semester, but she’s still covered under our policy.
The problem is that if these people are cut they still need care, and by law will receive it but not be able to pay for it. To recoup those losses YOUR costs will go up. That’s how it works. What this country needs is a public option using Medicaid that uses a sliding scale for fees. Since medicaid is not for profit the cost would be much less. This also would drive the costs of private insurance down because they would not be able to compete with a public option. You always hear people opposed to a public option say that the level of care would be worse. That’s completely false, though. Medicaid has FAR better coverage than the private, expensive plans…and if people were allowed to buy into it then it wouldn’t need anywhere near as much tax dollars. Americans really need to demand this and stop listening to the scare tactics put out there by those who stand to lose their millions in wages and bonuses if Americans stop allowing these insurance companies to rob them blind and offer little coverage at terribly inflated prices.
I don’t know much about all that…but, I do believe that something needs to be done. Scary to think if things continue status quo what healthcare a premiums are going to look like when my kids get out of college and have to take that on themselves.
Well, the higher the costs go for working people to have health coverage the more families lose it and the higher the premiums, deductibles and co-pays go. It’s been proven time and again that the less people are covered they higher the cost for those who do still have it. This is exactly what has driven so many into the medicaid program. Many of those people could pay more than they do. There will always be some who just can’t pay and that’s to be expected, but a sliding fee scale can and would work. About the only thing we haven’t tried is a public option and the only reason that hasn’t happened is because the health care lobby is so powerful and owns so many politicians that they use those scare tactics against voters. Here’s the thing, though…when voters fall for those scare tactics it sure doesn’t make things any better. In fact, it only gets worse. Affordable health care should not be a luxury. Every working person should be able to afford it. It would be so easy to make it possible if only there were a public option.
I don’t think single payer is the answer…or a situation like Europe or Canada. People shouldn’t have to wait for care. What will work in the US is just letting people buy medicaid coverage based on a fair rate that they can afford. Even the working poor could afford a little bit. There was a time when on an HMO you would pay $20 for seeing the doctor and $5 for a prescription with no deductibles and a reasonable premium. Those companies were still able to operate and make a profit. Just like the bankers that got greedy and caused all the corruption in the housing market we’ve got the same problem in the health care industry. The only way to put an end to it is to force those companies to provide their services at a fair price by injecting real competition into the market. If people can buy medicaid coverage at a reasonable rate those health insurance companies will find a way to offer something better at a fair rate as well. They’ve always been able to do it…they’re just greedy. Their costs would even lower as well because there would be almost no one without coverage. That means no need for hospitals to pass on uncouped costs to those who have insurance.
Heck, trying this won’t make matters worse…and it’s highly likely it would work. Americans need to demand it. If it would have been part of Obama’s health care reform people wouldn’t have reason to be so upset. Hopefully it will be added. Without the public option the reform is pointless.
Hope you don’t have health problems because if you or your family dose i bet your insurance will double when the new law kicks in . Were insurance companys can charge you because ilness that you or your family has an your age ect
That’s a happy thought — not. My daughter has suffered from a longterm illness for the past four years — she actually qualifies for social security but we’ve never let her feel like she isn’t capable (so she doesn’t get social security — the doctors wanted that)…she graduated 5th in her class and is attending college…she will be a contributing member of society. She takes pride in everything she can do — she doesn’t feel sorry for herself for what she can’t do. Can’t imagine having to pay more for insurance — already hard enough just keeping up with doctors and co-pays, especially when trips to Boston happen every six weeks. Thank god there’s places to stay there cheap.
I sympathize with you and your daughter. My husband I did find it was possible to discuss the pros and cons of getting SSI with our own daughter, who is disabled from a genetic disorder. We explained that this program is a type of safety net–her Dad and I have been paying into it with our taxes since we were teenagers (and continue to do so). Now she needs it. There’s no shame in that. We also told her that it was important for her to be productive–to contribute.
Her first job was folding napkins in a college dining room an hour a day–a bit of a come-down for a young woman who had been attending college until illness demolished her chances at that. She stuck with it, then after a period of transitional years has been able to work part time doing personal care in an Alzheimer’s unit.
We would be delighted if she got to the point of being able to take college courses, and we would continue to encourage her to retain SSI (now she has SSDI, too, since she’s worked a long time). There’s no shame in a person with a disability receiving some benefits, either a bit of cash (minimal SSI since she’s working, but it helps), or insurance (she now has Medicare).
I encourage you to reconsider having your daughter apply for SSI if she needs help with medical insurance.
LePage “SHOULD B IMPEACHED” he is a disgrace, send his @ss back to Marden’s….
Never going to happen Republican majority, even if Dems had the majority you still need a large block of Republican votes. Just as Liberals boasts that they are going to recall him. Recall him with what their is no recall law for state officials in Maine. They talk about online petitions LOL, what is that going to do. The Libs better start putting up some ideas because they have none and they are running on the same agenda that got them booted ou the last election.
Keep going Lepage. I don’t give two craps what other people have to say, but at least YOUR ADMINISTRATION has finally addressed it. Nothing irritates me more than running around on a 30 minute lunch break for soap, shampoo, and all the other necessities, to see these nut jobs/sloths/gamers/jammy-lovin slobs fighting at Wal-Mart with two kids and not one D__M thing to do all day but go to Wal-Mart. WOOOOWWWW……tough day at the office. Woops…..I have to stop typing….I have cubital tunnel syndrome. My pride is higher than disability. I’ll keep working……….not a genius, but this is all about the people that live together and deny they do. It’s going to turn into a sting operation.
Sounds like the sting operation left you a little confused. Everything at Wal-Mart is from China anyway. They treat their employees like crap. Most of the employees at Wal-Mart, if they have Health Coverage get it through MaineCare because it is not affordable through their employer.
And yet the Walton brats are now worth $93 billion, or 93,000 million. I think they could afford to give their employees a raise and some health care. I only shop where they sell American made products. Mostly online. Buy American, pay your fair share in taxes, and stay to hell out of ChinaMart while there is still one American left with a decent job.
Tell you what, why don’t you go and build yourself a retail empire and then you and your kids can pay all of your employees whatever you want.
Till then stop fretting over what someone else has.
I’ll tell YOU what. Keep shopping at Chinamart and sending our money and jobs to communist China and stop fretting about no one having a job or any money. And stop “fretting” about how many of your tax dollars are being used to pay for ChinaMart’s employees groceries, heat, and health care while they stack up billions and billions. The average ChinaMart employee hauls in a whopping $13,600 a year, or half the federal poverty level. Their father built that empire by selling American made products and taking care of his employees who made him rich. His rotten kids do neither. They should be held up as an example to no one. Defend them at your own risk.
wah wah wah…pull up your big boy/girl panties and get a life. Walmart serves a purpose in our economy and they have affordable products which cannot be said for a lot of the other “big box” stores that sell made in China goods.
Keep shopping at ChinaMart, the largest under employer in America. But please do not let me hear you complain about our economy being in the toilet or our standard orf living spiraling downward. ChinaMart has a lot to do with both. The 6 Walton heirs are now worth $93 billion. I think that is enough. I will shop anywhere but there. You do as you please.
——————————
fortunately my standard of living is just fine and I am employed have been since I was 15 years old and going to school. No sympathy from me, create your own company and give whatever you want to your children. I am doing my own thing and am very happy, have never been an “entitlement person” and never will be. Be accountable for your own actions…
So…you are not ever going to collect the SS and Medicare you have been paying for all these years?
Not to mention most people collect 4x what they pay into SS.
Social Security is just another form of welfare….only a socially accepted kind.
That is true.The very first recipient of SS lived to over 100 and collected many many times what she paid in.An unusual case in that most of her peers didn’t hit 100 but still…
Not if he doesn’t smarten up.
Well I was born into extreme poverty in Maine in a family of 7 children a mother and father in Maine 50 years ago. I’ve been working since I was 10 years old. From that time on I paid my own way in the world and put myself through college. I’ve owned and run companies since before I was 16. I’ve done contract work for the federal government since I was 19. I think you are trash. It really irks me that you are allowed to spout off on this site when you are such a slacker you didn’t even start working until you were 15! You sat around entitled for 5 years while I had to work everyday including weekends from 430 a.m. til 9 p.m. except the hours I was at school. You gutless nancyboy.
Shhhhh… stop mentioning that China is a Communist country! Don’t you realize that the only commies we hate are the ones who don’t have anything we want? I assure you that if the North Koreans started pumping cheap electronics and truckloads of “currency investment” loans into the market, we’re suddenly turn a blind eye to silly issues like human rights and nuclear proliferation.
Yep, they’re go from “pariah-state” to “strategic partner” before you could say “cheaply produced children’s toys,” and the Waltons would be first in line for dinner at young Kim Jong Un’s palace.
I could see the Waltons groveling for more money in North Korea! Lol. Greed has no pride, or conscience.
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And where do YOU buy your gas???????????
I work at Wally World during the summer months, I work at a teaching job during the school year, and got $8.90/hr, or $18,512/yr. Not $13,600. The summer before I worked over nights and got $9.90/hr. Hard work on cement floors, but not too bad.
Bob Briggs
I see you’ve bought into the rags-to-riches myth. Good for you! I bet you have some sweet dreams at night.
Bought into it? Living it. I came from nothing and have made something out of myself through many many hours of hard work and sacrifice. The lazy useless “young adults” that are milking the system get no sympathy from me.
I’ve raised three kids all of whom are light years ahead of their peers BECAUSE of the good old fashioned work ethic my wife and I instilled in them. Let the lazy bums starve, that will motivate them to get off of their collective butts and do something.
Fantastic answer, north. Exactly right.
It appears that you are so consumed with envy that you project it onto people who speak out against injustice.
{Till then stop fretting over what someone else has}
Isin’t that what you are doing with the welfare recipeants?
Pay whatever you want??? How about paying fair market value for your labor??
You mean inherit a retail empire built by your daddy…
Then, why are YOU fretting over older ladies getting MaineCare?
Go to allamericanstores.us or americansworking.com for a partial list.Yes,you will pay more in a lot of cases but if that’s feasible everybody wins.I worked for WM for 5 years and actually felt sorry for my store managers.They were even more overworked than the employees (hard to imagine)and had to respond to those Christian conservative swine in Bentonville. And you are absolutely right about the MC angle.Look up the lawsuit that was brought against them in VA to provide insurance so the state wouldn’t have to pay.Who supported them and screwed his own state’s voters and taxpayers?Why of course Eric Cantor.
Almost everything that’s bad in this country has GOP stink all over it. The GOP and their followers who voted them into office have done more harm to this country than the terrorists on 9/11.
I’m a little confused. What makes you think they didn’t put on the 911 show for us. I thought so before the second plan hit, and when the second plane hit I was 100% positive they did it.
Sound kooky? How many of the men and women in New York City that responded to the attack on the twin towers were public servants that belonged to a union? I’ll give you a hint, it’s almost 100%. And many of the people that worked in the building were either union workers or were so close to the smell of W’s butt in the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, and the Military High Command it’s not funny. It didn’t take me until lunch time to figure this out.
Watch Press For The Truth and look up Truth Jihad,among others.No question at all GWB did it to destroy illegal acts and consolidate power and secrecy.Worked pretty well, too.
L.L. Bean, Cabellas, Sears, K-Mart, Target, Burlington Coat, Khols, etc., etc., etc., all sell foreign goods. We have the opportunity right here in our own Country to be self sufficient but our Government won’t let it happen. We have our own oil, natural gas, coal, etc. but regulations are killing our freedom.
I do not spend my hard earned money at any of those places. If it is not made in America, I can live without it. Electronics not withstanding. I would pay 3 times as much for an American made computer or television, if they were available. Unfortunately, all electronics manufacturers with American names are treasonous dirt bags.
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Don’t even get me going on Cabellas. They have been robbing tax payers for years. Read Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston. George W. Bush btw also padded his own wealth massively at the direct expense of taxpayers in Texas.
YES!DCJ is absolutely incredible and all his writing is carefully checked and provable.:)
Most people don’t know these things. It’s unusual to find someone who has not only heard about it but has figured out that this is the case. The U.S. has the largest oil reserved in the world. We’ve been mining coal and fraqing for natural gas. Coal is processed with Mercury and that Mercury drifts to Maine where we don’t use coal. Fraqing for natural gas is causing serious health and safety problems for the people who live in the homes above the fraqed areas.
I think we might strategically be waiting for oil to run out in the rest of the world so we still have oil when all is said and done. But there’s something disturbingly wrong about allowing property and resources to be owned by foreign interests. Silly me, I thought windfarms in Maine were operational after all the money we dumped into them and controversy that preceded them. But guess what. Maine doesn’t own it’s own wind energy. How the He11 did that happen, cause in no way is it OK. The Bangor Hydro Electric Company was forced to close all of it’s Hydro Electric generators just in case the fish didn’t like them despite safer designs and fish ladders coming out. WTF?? We need to put our foot down in all of these areas and just stand firm. Our natural resources are ours first. Period. And if we want to sell you some, we’ll talk about that.
I guess the half dozen people I know that work at wally world that get the health insurance and like working there and have for 10+ years must be the exception?
Some people are never happy working for their employer because they are to busy wanting what the owners have.
Yes, they must be.
My Daughter-in-Law works there PART-TIME, has health insurance, profit sharing & gets a quarterly check, 10% off everything, and is not treated like crap. Now one of us isn’t telling the truth here.
And it’s interesting that you mentioned that; LePage’s biggest contribution to Marden’s was formulating a benefit package at Marden’s which makes it financially impossible for employee’s to obtain health insurance through the company, unless , of course, you are a member of management.
I work for Walmart and have affordable healthcare. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t pay 100%, I have a deductible and in most cases, a co-pay. I make better money than at my last job in manufacturing and I am not on any assistance. I have raised 4 kids, 3 of whom are still in college. Any job is what you make it. I thank Walmart for my paycheck and the opportunity to do good things in my community. Many won’t like this post, but I, for one, am happy in my work. No company is perfect, but the pay is regular, the work is doable, and I enjoy the ppl I work with. so, anything else?
Holy Troll Accounts Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rabid Republicans get so jacked up about people they perceive to be unworthy of welfare. It’s really only a few cents out of each of us taxpayer’s pockets that goes to make all of us as a community live a better life and probably also helps keep the crime rate lower than it might be because desperate people do desperate things like burglaries and home invasion robberies, not to mention shoplifting and bank and convenience store robberies.
I don’t believe the problem is a “crisis” and I think the number of cheats is quite small. The reason there has been an increase in welfare is quite simple. Bush and the Republicans tanked the economy in 2008 and we are slowly recovering. It’s starting to get better and the “crisis” will subside in time. In the meantime, delay or rescind the estate tax cut for millionaires and their unnecessary income tax cut because cutting benefits to the needy is NOT a better alternative than raising taxes on millionaires.
As for welfare fraud, the State should offer a $50 or $100 reward for information leading to the conviction or disqualification from benefits for anyone cheating.
Yes, and if they can spend the time and money identifying who doesn’t have children but does have health issues (beyond lazy dependency) then why can’t they throw out the lazy ones? There are plenty there, but we do have people with legitimate needs.
To all of you who are so focused on LePage’s momentum but not on his path: Look closely at the people you know – some of whom you may actually like. You will see some who are in serious need. Would you honestly deny them help just so you can say you made a sweeping change?
If you don’t see anyone in need then maybe you should stay out of Wal-Mart on your lunch hour and organize your life so that you can actually look at what is going on around you. Oh! Was I judging you? I’m sure there’s more to you than meets my eye, so I am truly sorry. I really am making a point, not a judgement. You have a story. We all do. (And no, I am not and never have been in need of help from the state. I am one of the lucky ones. For now. )
Get off your high Democratic horse and stop blaming the party. Fraud in the system is created by lazy cheats who want a hand out, who also probably don’t even vote. This is happening in every state in the country. I as a taxpayer (political party put aside) am tired of supporting these lazy cheats. As I stated, no kids, no disabilities no aid, go get a job.
but you can support the legislaters who gave 23 million to their own companies or their spouses and you can support Newt who took millions from fannie mae. You are full of hatred for a few indigent folks. You’re gross!!
The Republican Party and the Tea Party have become parties of hate.
not true, I harbor no hate, just discontent for abusers of the system and the “entitlement society”
so much hate and jealousy because they are getting a few of your pennies. WAAH WAAH WAAH
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2010/11/22/politics/following-nuttings-own-formula-pharmacy-still-overcharged-for-medicaid-supplies/
Right we hate watching the democrats using the poor for personal financial gains.
as if. The Party taking advantage is the one working 24/7 for the rich…the Repugnantcans
Is there anything at all that you can say that is intelligent today? grow up..name calling was suppose to stop in grade school and yet you want us to take “your” comments seriously?
You guys NEVER take intelligent comments seriously. You live in your own deluded world of Republican “facts” and try to fool the rest of us into believing them too. The Republican Party works 24/7 for the rich and NEVER initiates legislation in Congress, at least in the past 10 years, that is geared to primarily help the middle class. If you can, just name one such legislation from the GOP, just one.
We’re still waiting GOP, just one example where in the past ten years the Republicans initiated JUST ONE piece of legislation geared primarily to help the middle class. Can’t find one, then that PROVES that they only work for the rich and care nothing about the rest except to fool us into voting for them.
As a former Republican, I have to agree…
where do they say they support those people(
legislaters who gave 23 million to their own companies or their spouses and you can support Newt who took millions from fannie mae. )? Newt is a crook, his running for president took a serious nose dive as soon as people realized how rich he got from our bail out money. As far as welfare goes, he has a point with the “no kids, No Disabilities” part, perhaps if they were charged a premium like the rest of us and had health care that covered more like private care people wouldn’t get so upset, but Mainecare will pay for treatment no private health care plan will, and that just isn’t right. And yes, I work in the health care world so I do know they cover more services for a fact.
To be fair, most of those companies are charities.
Hey Einstein………….in case you havent heard, you ditto heads tanked our economy after being handed a government with no debt by Clinton. We’re still picking up the pieces of the mess you greedy bone heads left behind.
The GOP and the ones who elected them DESERVE ALL THE BLAME for putting our economy in the toilet.
While there is plenty of blame to share around, it is clear that Reagan’s bogus “Trickle-down” economic theories – which included outragious tax cuts for large corporations & the richest among us – coupled with a mindless zeal to sweep away and/or not enforce regulations is largely responsible for our current economic plight. President Bush the First rightly called Reaganomics “VooDoe economics,” but virtually every Republican running for office in the 20 years has embraced such a model…
You know, about 20 years ago I became ill. The disease does not matter. Up until that time I had worked almost every day of my life since I was 16. I owned my own business at one point and usually had more than one job. Then I couldn’t work. I also couldn’t get the treatment I needed because no job=no insurance. So I applied to Medicaid. It saw me through that crisis. Then 10yrs later it saw me through the next.
I will be up in Maine in a few months to visit family. Please forward me your address….I would love to look you up so you can tell me to my face what kind if lazy cheat I was. Really I would love it.
If you want to address fraud, start with Republican Robert Nutting, current Speaker of the Msine House, who ripped off the taxpayer for more than a million dollars. See http://pinetreewatchdog.org/2010/11/23/documents-show-how-incoming-speak er-nutting-inflated-medicaid-charges-more-than-1-million/ or http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2010/11/22/politics/following-nuttings-own-formula-pharmacy-still-overcharged-for-medicaid-supplies/
and we can be like the Nazi Germany turning in our neighbors and family…sounds like a great plan….NOT
So despite the fact YOU want to go after welfare abusers, you criticize my idea just because I’m anti-Republican. That’s the way with Repugnantcans nowadays. Support the healthcare mandate right up until the Dems go along with it. Support payroll tax holiday right up until the Dems want to do it. Support tax cuts unless it’s for the middle class. You guys are such hypocrites and party loyalists that it must be hard to keep up with all the flipflopping of your leaders!
yes ,we should use the poor for our own financial gains like the Rabid Democrats have for years.
How do you know that the other “Nut jobs/sloths/gamers/jammy-lovin slobs fighting at Wal-Mart with not one D__M thing to do” aren’t on their lunch break buying cheap plastic crap from China just like you? And why are you ALL there? Because you’re either un-American or your job pays crap and you can’t afford to buy something produced anywhere but China. Perhaps you should consider getting a better eduction, learning a skill or something that might get you a job with better pay so you can shop at better stores with a better class of people? You know, less like you. Just a thought.
With a better education, and good jobs, we’d all be conservatives. A frightening prospect for the dictatorship of the proletariat. Just saying.
Wrong. The least educated states in America are all RED states. The dumber you are the more likely you might be fooled into voting for a Republican. That’s why the Republicans are trying to make it harder for college students to vote…because they Know college students are voting Democrat most of the time. Just saying.
No offense but you’re the “other sister” when it comes to negotiating on behalf of the collective. As in “I feel special now, Carla”.
such hatred for those unable to find jobs or that don’t have the IQ to be hired somewhere. Are they all suppose to die. It would make sense to start collecting the MILLIONS that our electected officials have stolen, than the THOUSANDS that they are finding in welfare fraud. It’s just a diversion that the rich are leading you haters on…………….and you and 70 other “likes” on on the ride.
Why doesn’t the headline read “EXTREME LIBERAL GROUP DISPUTES LEPAGE” like they always do for any conservitive group that this rag prints!
because that would be a lie, but if FOX news was covering the story, you’d get that headline since they have little regard for the truth.
I personally know 4 people at his time who are getting benefits who need to be out working. I have reported one of them as I had a lot of proof. Nothing was done about it. Go LePage!
And you probably pretend to be a good hearted caring friend to these folks you reported. How else would you have “a lot of proof”?
“Nothing was done about it”So that would be a failure of the very crowd you support.I absolutely agree there are plenty of who are collecting and are beating the system-especially the “mentally disabled” crowd who have been on Ritalin,etc since they were 6.
yeh cmon Lepage act on that report NOW. What’s taking you so long?
Wow such little compassion within your statement… How can we judge those individuals we see during our lunch breaks, for we do not know the circumstances that brought them there. Instead of tearing down such individuals why dosn’t everyone take a moment to visualize ourselves born into poverty and life circumstances leaving us with little if anything. Would you not want help? Would you want people to turn their eyes from you and just ignore that you are in need?
Maybe what is needed is our government and politicians finding their hearts and showing a bit of compassion and understanding instead of holding on to their greed and ignorance.
Wow such little compassion within your statement… How can we judge those individuals we see during our lunch breaks, for we do not know the circumstances that brought them there. Instead of tearing down such individuals why dosn’t everyone take a moment to visualize ourselves born into poverty and life circumstances leaving us with little if anything. Would you not want help? Would you want people to turn their eyes from you and just ignore that you are in need?
Maybe what is needed is our government and politicians finding their hearts and showing a bit of compassion and understanding instead of holding on to their greed and ignorance.
Wow such little compassion within your statement… How can we judge those individuals we see during our lunch breaks, for we do not know the circumstances that brought them there. Instead of tearing down such individuals why dosn’t everyone take a moment to visualize ourselves born into poverty and life circumstances leaving us with little if anything. Would you not want help? Would you want people to turn their eyes from you and just ignore that you are in need?
Maybe what is needed is our government and politicians finding their hearts and showing a bit of compassion and understanding instead of holding on to their greed and ignorance.
NUTS
Nothing irritates you more? Really? How about a hypothetical situation in which an elected official consistently lies to the public? How about a whole set of elected officials scripting their agenda based on out-of-state corporate interests? How about people being duped into voting against their own best interests by slick political media campaigns? I’ll admit it: those things sure irritate me.
Why don’t they have anyone that is eligible for Mainecare from any tribe have their healthcare paid for by the tribe. It’s my understanding that if they’re elegible for Mainecare then that’s what they get. The tribes get money for healthcare, so they should be made to use it for the members that would be eligible for Mainecare. If they have their own healthcare & government then they should pay for their people’s healthcare.
Get rid of the fraud and the waste, then you will have enough to go around. Has anyone ever noticed the employee parking lot at dhs? All new cars. If they can afford new cars then they are making to much money. Keep in mind they are public servants. But they make above average pay. Can anyone tell me of one state worker who makes minimum wage? Yet they want people who work for minimum wage to pay their wages.
oh look at that,
Finally someone has the balls to make some changes where it should be and suddenly there’s a “study” saying that the cuts would hurt people that need it?
I call shenanigans.
In fact there was an article saying that the cuts would effect “legal immigrants” the most”
not elderly or disabled.
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/01/06/news/state/immigrants-may-be-hit-hardest-by-mainecare-cuts-tighter-food-stamp-rules/
It seems that this study was made just in time for the liberal weenies to justify thier opposition to lepage’s proposed cuts.
cuts need to be made. simple as that.
kick the freeloaders off the system. it’s got to be done.
Yeah, thank you Karl Rove for your comment:)
I’m much better looking than Karl Rove.
So is an eel.
Don’t eels have souls, or was it that eels are wicked expensive?
Please-not during breakfast!
I like how you called him “Karl Rove”. That was a really good point.
So call it “cutting illegal immigrants” and do it! If they can be identified then why aren’t we deporting them? We can deport a teenager with a fake ID, why can’t we do that with the real criminals – the people who are stealing our services and taking advantage of our “hospitality?” Either make them go through the hoops to become legal (and have them reimburse our country for what they’ve taken) or ship their butts back to their own homes. As much as I love the tapestry of our country, illegal immigrants are a huge problem for us, and one that needs to be addressed. Humanely. (For those of you who like labels and boxes…I guess I must be a democrat? )
ICE has deported more people in FY 2011 than ever before and by a wide margin.And the numbers for FY 2012 appear to be on the same track.
Thank you. It’s an important topic and I should be better informed.
Not a problem.The deliberate misinformation on this and other topics would leave many confused.Newsweek published a poll showing that the least informed of the electorate were conservative R’s,followed by conservative D’s.No surprise.I agree with you that illegals need to be deported posthaste.Have a great day.
It seems that this medicaid crisis was made just in time for the right wing wackos to justify their opposition to everyone who doesn’t share the paranoia.
No one wants to deprive the Walton heirs the benefits of their own labor. However, many would like them to fairly compensate their employees for the profits derived from their service and stop freeloading on the backs of the taxpayers who need to care for their employees.
Enjoy the Kool-aid!
When someone makes an important claim like the one in LePage’s proposal, people who are interested in facts are likely to conduct some research. That’s not suspicious- it’s basically the textbook definition of research.
The article you linked to says cuts in eligibility for MaineCare and food stamps may have the greatest effect on legal immigrants as a single group. The article you (hopefully) just read says that restricting eligibility of childless adults will deny coverage for lots of people with cancer, mental disability, injuries, and other serious disadvantages that aren’t categorized as disability in the system. Those two claims aren’t mutually inconsistent, so if you think you just showed some sneaky trick or slip up, it’s just not the case.
Both articles are showing that proposed cuts won’t target freeloaders, they’ll target lots and lots of people who are at a legitimate disadvantage and will struggle to obtain food and medical care without assistance.
I can’t believe how many likes your comment got given that it didn’t make very much sense.
Sounds like more of the same from LIEpage.
Please . . . it’s time for the BDN to find a different picture of LePage.
You don’t mean that Penguin told half truths and embellished the facts he wanted to so that he could get his way? We all know (because he told us multiple times) that he is not a politician! Now twisting the truth sounds like a politician.
More lies and bull sh*t to come from this imbecile and his cronies.
Happy new year!
Yes, I understand this is about childless adults, but we are we to do about all the “mindless” adults, like LePage?
Time to take LePLAGUE down off the wall and place him in the closet along with the Labor Mural he ordered to be taken down.
Dump him Maine…before he finishes dumping on you!!!
Adrienne Bennett, press secretary to Gov. Paul LePage, disputed the report, saying the average age of a noncategorical recipient is 40 years old. This is very close to a lie, but not close enough, however it is deceiving. LePage must be very proud of Bennett today.
What did you base this lie on?
Open your eyes! and ears and mind.
Whatever the number is, The system needs to be looked into…
If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it’s free.
wait till the law kicks in that insurance companys can charge each person what they want
What does the body do when it loses the same intake of nutrition? It’s starts using up resources and rationing stored energy. An economy is no different. Our national economy is forcing us to make huge cuts because we no longer have the same amount of income as we used to. We need to start being more competitive and innovative so that we don’t need to worry as much about people dying as a result of a lack of healthcare. That’s why I put my support behind Romney, as well as any other candidate/incumbent who will fight to make sure that we can compete with the Asian countries. LePage is not making these cuts to be mean or anything, but the cuts do need to be made and the opponents are not coming up with any better solutions.
when will the wealthy kick in their share ? I have not heard of any Romney plans for any sacrifice from them ?
We actually do have as much income. Maine’s per capita income in 2002 was $28,201. In 2010 it was $36,058. (That was pretty much the Baldacci years.) The annual increase was 3.1% over that time. In 2011, Maine’s per capita income was $36,717, a 1.8% increase from 2010. So the money is there somewhere. Maybe we are experiencing that widening income gap that seems to be happening elsewhere.
You are not taking into account for the cost of living increases, and the rich can’t just pay for the rest of us to live comfortably again. The widening gap between the rich and the rest is not a cause of economic hardship, rather it is a result of declining economic condition of this country.
Healthcare has jumped more than that — check out the price of an asprin while hospitalized.
These patients are cancer and HIV patients… homeless who have no healthcare and medical problems. We shouldn’t be turning these people away, they don’t have the means to help themselves, or are in the process of helping themselves, but they need our help until they get there. Having cancer or HIV doesn’t stop just because someone’s employment is eliminated or they have fallen on hard times.
40% of childless adults who don’t qualify as disabled under federal guide lines. What guide lines does the state use?
SSDI should not be a career choice, nor workmen’s comp, though it seems that about 30% of Maine’s population belives it should be. People can work with any number of health issues though their choices may be narrowed. Wake up people. We are broke and those of us who work (I have COPD, hypertension and heart disease) can no longer afford to carry you.
Whos going to hire them ?
People like me who appreciate those who work through advesrity rather than mewling about their poor luck.
Wonders if Mr. Bodgers will be out of jail for trying to burn a police car up in time to testify for Equal Partners.
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/01/09/news/court/man-said-he-tried-to-blow-up-police-car-to-draw-attention-to-lepages-mainecare-cuts/
Nothing came be done in Augusta that won’t offend someone… The problem with most of our politicans is they know that and are so worried about getting elected over and over again they won’t make any hard choices.. I am proud that our Governor Paul LePage is standing up without fear to try to get things done… P.S. none of this will get by the house or senate because they fear re-election
Governor LePage has already started his re-election campaign. He likes it.
Yes he has, Yet he doesn’t fear it… If he did he would be pandering to you’re voter block instead of making hard choices..
He is appealing to his supporters, people who hate “welfare” recipients, retirees from public service jobs, unions, immigrants, legal or illegal, teachers, environmentalists, etc.
I just read the report in Farsi is that cool or what.
Lepage should just print more money and fund what everyone wants, what’s the problem? Free pizza for everyone! Balance the books? What for? Stop issuing bills to anyone, we should all be provided food, shelter, health care and fuel, but no love.
It is long past time for universal health care coverage with a single-payer system. It is not ethical or moral to make a profit on people’s illness and injury, yet that is what all private health insurance companies do. Take my premiums, paid to Anthem, and pay them to Mainecare. Give me and everyone else in the state Mainecare. Health care costs will surely be reduced by the amount of profit Anthem (and other private for-profit companies) make. Look at their profits, and take a guess at how much Maine would get.
Gov. LePage needs to get a vision, not of cutting and shrinking, but of doing business differently. All people need health care. We can afford it if we do it as a universal, single payer plan, using Mainecare as the base to build on.
people on the welfare system talking about having more kids go to a housing complex they drive better cars then the working people,phones,cable,game systems,big @#ss screen tv’s ect………they get theses items by SELLING pain meds that mainecare pays for and living in housing and have people live with ya paying u rent when they r not suppose to be there (stop the baby production and make them work like the rest of us hafta) no one pays our (working people)bills/childcare medical ect…..
It appears that Lepage is not making mistakes about just how bad the welfare is, he just lies and lies and lies and lies and lies and lies and lies and lies and lies and lies. Bennett is just a pimple on his you know what.
One more time, its all a smoke screen to take the focus of what he is supporting for all his special interest rich friends.
Sometimes it is good to work with facts. If you have a problem with the system then report it. No question there are some abuses in the system. Taking it out in a blog is cowardly. Do something, anything but blathering here about things you do not understand.
I have no solutions to this financial mess. All I can say is there is a fundamental problem with equality if people with children are held out to be more valuable members of our society than those without children. Why should an otherwise healthy young mother, whose only contact with doctors is for the purpose of procreation, deserve MaineCare instead of a person with cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes etc? I don’t advocate depriving a pregnant woman and her fetus medical care. But what makes them so more valuable than other citizens? Why must there be a line drawn over whose lives we save and whose we forfeit? We must all ask ourselves, “What if it’s my life someone decides is expendable?”
….
I’m tired of paying taxes for other peoples benefits, and then have to pay high premiums through work gets a double wammy, don’t work, get everything free, work hard, pay more for people who don’t wanna work, pay for there free healthcare, also have to pay for my own, 3000 a year that is, with 2500 deductable, co pays etc. who is benefiting more the worker or the one who doesn’t work. the system will fail, cause we can’t pay anymore taxes . and theres more on the system than not. the money will run out
No Apathy for Austerity!
Resist LePage Shock Therapy!
BUT they can get charity care if they are as bad off as the BDN and MEJP want to make us believe!!
Hello??? Earth to Maine??? Come in Maine……….hello?? Earth to BDN……..come in BDN, come in….hello??? Hello???
Just one important observation…The Affordable Care Act is going to require that Maine cover these same people LePage wants to cut by 2014. If Maine kicks these people off Mainecare the state loses MORE in federal funding than would be saved…so it would actually COST Maine taxpayers money. We would get less of our federal tax dollars back and in just two years, after losing that money, we will have to turn around and cover these same people under federal law anyhow. In the meantime, kicking these people off Mainecare will cause more price gouging to families struggling to pay premiums and deductibles as it is. Then, after losing the federal funding we’ll be right back to having to put these people right back on Mainecare.
Frankly, LePage wanting to do this shows his total lack of knowledge and understanding of how things work. His ignorance is so damaging to Maine. Fortunately the legislature has more knowledge and I don’t see them allowing this kind of nonsense.
Are we not federal tax payers too??????????????????????????
The Republicans claim you can go to an emergency room for care. OK…. show me even one emergency room in this entire country that gives chemotherapy to a dying cancer patient.
I do not believe that the Maine Equal Justice Partners realize that Poor Paul does not let facts stand in his way and he does not have much of a conscience. I would like to see a study that puts a number on how much this “fraud” actually costs each individual tax payer here in the state annually. $1? $100? $1,000?
“according to a report released Monday by an advocacy group for the poor.”
That says it all about the study folks, like it or not.
Right, only trust studies performed by advocacy groups for the rich.
Maine Heritage Foundation
I see the liberals are at it again with their left leaning biased studies, all in an attempt to control state spending, so they get it all for themselves. Don’t be fooled folks, their study is full of propaganda and is not factual.
Does this liberal group want to remove funds from education and transportation to pay for their cadillac health insurance? The State of ME of BROKE. There is NO Money. Plain and simple! Stop trying to soak the system!!!
How many know that .disabled adults. who turn Age 65, are no longer .disabled. ?? At Age 65 they are .senior citizens. and nothing else. It might not be a change in the amount of a Social Security check, but it does stop all help from the Governments which come to .disabled adults. This is a hardship for many .senior citizens. .. However, IF senior-citizens have a tall pile of .medical bills. which you absolutely cannot pay, you can possibly get help. I supposed it depends on the State you live in. I’ve been learning that each State in New England has different ways to help “low-income people.” Or not ! And, do you know that senior-citizen couples where both husband/wife each receive a Soc. Sec. check are “OVER INCOME” for most other benefits?
Go Lepage!
Go get them Governor LePage. Those lazy asses need to stop sitting around eating bon bons and watching reality shows all day. No kids, no disability means no coverage. Get out and get a job like the rest of us. Waynorth1, you said it all.
LePage cares more about Big Insurance company campaign contributions than he cares about helpless poor, sick people…..
It is about time we got get rid of the free loaders! I would like to see them go after all the ones collecting Social Security disability who are out cutting trees, hauling logs and splitting firewood just to name a few!
“Known as “noncategoricals” because they don’t fall under categories of mandatory coverage, the childless adult group consists of beneficiaries ages 21 to 64 who “don’t qualify as disabled under federal guidelines” and who “have no dependents in the home”.Why should we take care of them?
Also if “More than 40 percent of childless adults covered through MaineCare are older than 45 and many have serious medical conditions”
That means that more than 50% are under 45 and have no serious medical conditions.
Again, why should we take care of them?
This is more waste of our money not their money!
This is all a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. What LePage is suggesting is that we kick all of the childless adults off of Mainecare in July, only to have to put them right back on in 2014 because it is against Federal Law to prevent all qualifying adults from receiving affordable care under Medicare. Gotta love a governor that tries to do everything in his power to kick the poor and elderly off of the only affordable healthcare they have, after our president has already been able to pass a law that will ensure the state has to provide affordable care to ALL people in Maine anyway. This proposal is pretty much pointless, unless LePage’s objective was to create more division amongst his own people. For some, it may only boil down to “welfare bums, nut jobs, sloths”, and any other unkind word a closed mind can think of, but for me this is an attack against some of my honest, hard working friends and family. LePage’s proposal is illegal and destructive to the future of our state.
Not everyone that recieves help is trying to screw the system — some however are and there’s enough of that going on that everyone knows people that are doing it.
I agree with everyone’s right to “affordable healthcare” that doesn’t mean “Free” healthcare for some and others paying half their paychecks to buy insurance though. Where’s the fairness in that?
Well, personally I think a lot people assume the problem is bigger than it actually is, not to say that there aren’t people who are and will abuse the system. Sounds like we agree, for the most part. I do believe that all who abuse the system should be investigated and prosecuted, such as the group who were recently charged with welfare fraud in Lewiston.
We agree on affordable healthcare, for the most part, as well. I definitely wouldn’t say the current system is fair, and I couldn’t say for sure whether it will or not, but hopefully the Affordable Care Act helps to even the playing field on insurance costs. From what I understand, the broadest parts of the Affordable Care Act won’t go into effect until 2014. Aside from that, a lot of people on Mainecare actually work for a living, but cannot afford the cost of employer insurance, due to low wages. I also don’t think it is fair for someone to work their entire life, go through their retirement savings on medical expenses, and then be told what little prescription drug and home healthcare assistance they get is about to be eliminated. I could go on..lol.
I just can’t agree with LePage. There has got to be a better solution to the problem. His own party won’t support some of the cuts he is suggesting.
So how would YOU suggest filling a 220 million dollar hole in DHHS budget?
Shut it down.
Rescind the largest tax break ever given in this state’s history. LePage’s grand 200 million dollar tax break that is, conveniently, almost as much as the budget shortfall.
Darn it Gov! You are rattling some cages. Sounds like the
whiners who are the frauds are up in arms. The people who
are footing this tab know what you are trying to do and support
you. Get the “lifers” off the system so it will be just for those
who really need it such as the disabled, elderly and those who
have hit a rough time but don’t intend to use it as a way of life.
Contrary to what the socialist/libber says, no one is opposed to
helping those who REALLY need some help. But when you talk
about cutting, the lazy and the leeches all cringe. Us people paying
for this want that so-called “social justice” the libbers waaaa waaa
about.
you know I hate when I see that some not all of you people saying being on SSDI and working part time should be off the SSDI, because I am one Iam disabled not lazy. I work and sent in my check subs to the SS office. I do not hide a thing I do have pain most of the time. I would love to trade any one my pain and part time job, and SSDi for your job. my wife would like that as well.any takers..!!!
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northern,I am 84,paid taxes while working 47 years including 26 years military.where do you think my taxes went.never begrudge helping someone.your day will come when a younger persons taxes are needed to help you.
So, if my calculations are correct that leaves 18 percent that can be eliminated. Eighteen percent of millions ……I will take that. We have to begin someplace….Thank you Gov. LePage for trying to improve our finances in the State of Maine. I, for one, appreciate you trying to save me money. No one unemployed and not working should have better insurance that working people.
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What is wrong with trying to address the faults in the system? This “sky is falling” approach is non-productive.
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Agreed. But some people want it both ways. They want a system which is “fair”. Lepage is trying to do what must be done and the screaming has not really begun. To suggest Lepage is “hoping people die” is bordering assinine.
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I can understand your compassion. This did not happen overnight, the legislature has been broadening the welfare system for three decades to the point of no return. The money tree is bare and the Democrats are now howling at any restrictions or trimming. How convenient for them. I personally know of people on Mainecare who go on multiple cruises every year and am glad to see someone at least looking into abuses. It did not take Lepage long to ferret out the MTA, did it? This must have been common knowledge in Augusta. Lepage will go down as a great governor and one can only remember how other politicians, like Lincoln,who were reviled in their day when they had to do unpleasant things, but later were thought of much differently.
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Agreed but watch how loud they will yell, and plenty on the left will back them up. It seems bad behavior is trumpeted these days. I hope Lepage’s skin is thick enough to absorb the abuse he is going to get.
what a surprise…Lepage not telling the truth! He wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him in the head.
Another black/white story by the BDN. No matter what your beliefs, I hope Mainers aren’t using this newspaper as their primary source of news and information.
Remember, the publisher of the BDN is a very wealthy man who prints whatever the news organizations filter to him. Hypocrite.
The main issue with MaineCare is not that there are noncategoricals abusing the system; the issue is that there is not enough dough in the coffers to cover the checks. Even if every MaineCare case was legitimate given the current guidelines of eligibility, the problem would still exist. And the hard truth is that some needy recipients would still need to be culled from the program unless funding could be received from other sources. Barring that, tough decisions may have to be made that well may cause hardship for individuals that, up until now, have qualified. And so somehow it must be determined who loses coverage. Unfortunately, it has to be done with numbers and statistics, otherwise it would cost more to determine who should be cut than what would be saved by the cuts, themselves. Someone needs to make the tough, unpopular decisions or let MaineCare dissolve into complete insolvency and go away altogether.
LePage lies – people die.
yessah
We feed the world, why not our own ? Wefare fraud and waste, no one’s more guilty of that than your elected officials, your banks and corperations. You want to continue working with an injury, good do it but don’t expect that from anyone but yourself.
Another LePage lie debunked.
Yessah
Come on, this isn’t a study–it’s a slapped together piece of the same political whining Mainers have listened to for years. There is nothing in this study that “disputes” what the administration has said. They said most of the single, childless people are under age 40–and they are. The administration has said they will not cut those with a demonstrated disability. They will discontinue coverage for childless adults who are not handicapped. The BDN is getting a bit ridiculous with the endless op-ed pieces and “news” pieces that keep hammering the same message: People will die; the state will lose federal money and jobs; people will go untreated and end up in the ER; then they will die; and the state will lose jobs…and the insured will have to pay for the ER visits of the uninsured.
I’d like to know this: what happens if we do nothing? What happens if we continue offering services that we cannot pay for? How many jobs will be lost in healthcare because the state cannot pay its bills? How many small practices in rural areas will have to close due to unpaid bills? How will people in rural localities get quality health care when more and more practitioners refuse to accept MaineCare?
People are so quick to highlight all the terrible things that will happen with these cuts, but most of them offer no solution. Except to defer the tax cuts that are just starting to take effect and would have no ability to cover the budget shortfall now.
Just another daily attack on our Governor.
LePage will not be happy until there are thousands of homeless Mainers crowding the shelters JUST like he had to do when he was a kid. He’s making people suffer because he had a bad childhood, wah wah, go get some counseling LePage, really, and stop cutthing and start CREATING some jobs, geesh, when are we going to here about CREATION from the republicans without jesus involved? WHERE’S THE JOBS FOR THESE PEOPLE THAT YOU’RE CUTTING? And don’t say: “well, WalMart is always hiring”! There’s no WalMart in every town, nor a McDonalds/Burger King, I’m so tired of people thinking that there’s a job for every person on welfare, there isn’t! He has got to create something for these welfare people before they cut the welfare. Do we really want to see our neighbors, cold and hungry on the street? Please, have some compassion. Have your town send you a breakdown of what your taxes are going for, I guarantee you the majority is to the school department, not welfare.
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Be sure to vote *out* every Senator and Rep. in November who supports this abusive twit (esp. from Maine’s poorest, and most rural counties)!
Furthermore, every legislator should lose *their* most excellent healthcare plans and bennies (along with coverage for dependents, family members, and via future retirement perks).
Fair is fair, after all!
http://www.mejp.org/myths.htm
Another example of the Paul LePage method of conducting a firing squad. Ready! Fire! Aim!
Thought LePage was gonna DIRIGOOOOOOOOOOO…….That closing would save close to 250,000 or more a year in wages and benefits! Check the wages and poperating cost on MaineOpenGov.org!!!
The way the citizens of Maine attack the poor and disabled and elderly….unbelievable !! And you people wonder WHY you are ranked 50th out of 50 states ? Who on earth would ever start a business in this state with the hostile attitude it’s citizens display towards others ? Good luck Maine…soon there will be nobody left to pay ANY taxes and you will all be screwed, working or not. I see GovLePage is living large while he starts a “class war” though…..