For two straight elections, health care dominated the political debate.
In 2017, voters sent a clear message that they supported Medicaid expansion, which would provide health care to more than 70,000 Mainers, strengthen rural hospitals and create new jobs in the state.
Despite the efforts of advocates, allies and people desperate for health care, expansion was delayed by the efforts of then-Gov. Paul LePage and his administration.
Then-Attorney General Janet Mills made it clear throughout her run for governor that she would take immediate steps to advance the will of the voters and increase the number of people with health care.
She promised to expand access to care on her first day in office, and as governor, Mills followed through. On Day 1.
In addition to making Medicaid expansion a priority, Mills and her administration have also opened a new era of transparency and accountability, working hard to keep Mainers up to date on what’s happening.
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services has launched a blog to share information on the progress of implementation.
As of Feb. 1, more than 3,000 people had started to receive access to health care coverage under the expansion law.
Expansion is making a significant difference in every county. The enrollees are from all over the state, including 237 from Androscoggin County, 259 from Aroostook, 484 from Penobscot, 167 from Oxford, 414 from York and 533 from Cumberland.
For the people who have coverage — and the thousands more who will be covered in the near future — being able to see a doctor when they’re sick or hurt is life changing, and maybe even life saving.
In addition to expanding Medicaid, Mills also slammed the breaks on an effort by LePage to block people from qualifying for Medicaid.
Before leaving office, LePage had requested a special waiver from the federal government that would have allowed the state to impose so-called “work requirements” on people on Medicaid.
In states across the country, such waivers have had little impact on employment, but they have been disastrous for low-income people, creating mountains of red tape and bureaucratic barriers that wrongly take health care away.
If imposed on our state, these regulations would have taken health care away from Mainers who have fallen on hard times and are looking for work or don’t work enough hours, including those laid off because of mill closures. Mainers living in rural areas, where unemployment can be higher, would have been hard hit.
Mills examined the policy, studied the research and came to the right conclusion: The waiver “would leave more Maine people uninsured without improving the participation in the workforce.”
Instead of allowing health care to be taken away from people who cannot afford to lose it, the Mills administration took steps to help low-income people trying to re-enter the workforce.
It’s clear that the Mills administration is rejecting the politics of division that have been used to set up false choices. It’s this commitment to policies backed by sound science and best practices that can help Maine tackle the problems of poverty, opioid addiction and poor health.
Mills understands that having access to health care is the first step in getting people back into a job.
The political fight over expanding Medicaid has been fierce. That’s not likely to change.
Despite the positive results that Medicaid expansion has delivered around the country — and the harm of policies such as the LePage waiver — there will always be those who fight to take health care away from low-income people.
Through her first month in office, Mills has shown she won’t let that happen.
That’s great news for more than 70,000 people who are getting care and for the hospitals in rural parts of the state that have suffered needlessly waiting for Medicaid expansion.
It is also gives Maine people the peace of mind that they will still have access to life-saving medications, even if their job status changes.
Linda Deane is the Western Maine Labor Council president. She lives in Livermore Falls.