AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Senate effectively killed a short-term budget Thursday that would have filled a $118 million shortfall facing the state’s Medicaid program.
The proposal needed support from at least two-thirds of senators for the money to reach health providers immediately. But a drawn-out series of motions and debates resulted in most Republicans continuing to withhold support and the chamber adjourning without a deal.
The budget stalemate led the state this week to start capping and holding certain payments for hospitals and health care providers, who warned they may need to start cutting services if lawmakers fail to bail out the MaineCare program that serves roughly half of Maine’s children.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature has seen more than a month of back-and-forth bickering over the supplemental budget that initially appeared noncontroversial when Gov. Janet Mills proposed it in January to fill the MaineCare funding gap caused by increased use since the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing enrollment of more than 400,000 residents. Republicans turned on the deal last month after three of their appropriators initially endorsed it.
The top House and Senate leaders in both parties hammered out an amendment Monday that included new per-recipient limits on General Assistance to 12 months in a 36-month period and a review of “waste, fraud and abuse” in MaineCare. However, after the House gave it overwhelming support for it to take effect immediately, all but two Senate Republicans opposed it. That led Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, to call her chamber back in Thursday, while the House is not back until Tuesday.
Senate Democrats could have approved the budget with a simple majority vote, but it would have meant that funding would not reach providers until 90 days later. Thursday’s prolonged debates resulted in no new breakthrough. Sens. Rick Bennett of Oxford and Marianne Moore of Calais remained the only Republicans to back the plan, which needed two additional GOP votes to reach the two-thirds threshold.
Next steps are uncertain, such as whether members will take up the MaineCare and $2 million to fight spruce budworm infestations as separate measures. It is unlikely members will revive the budget bill, as that would take a two-thirds majority. Daughtry said she will huddle with legislative leaders and her caucus to determine a plan. What’s clear is hospitals and health providers will have to wait even longer for MaineCare funding.
“We need to find a way to get creative and make sure that we’re able to deliver for Mainers,” Daughtry told reporters.
Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, who was absent Thursday, previously said his caucus still wanted to see MaineCare costs reined in more, including by including MaineCare work requirements in the budget that would have also required the Mills administration to give direct care workers a 1.95 percent cost-of-living increase.
Stewart and Senate Republicans sought to blame their Democratic peers for the budget woes in a Thursday night statement that said MaineCare is “crumbling under its own weight.”
In a separate announcement Thursday that came as senators debated the spending plan, Northern Light Health announced it will close its Waterville hospital in June.
“The refusal of Senate Republicans to support the bipartisan agreement on the supplemental budget is harmful for Maine health care providers and their patients,” Mills said Thursday.
Republicans such as Sen. Jim Libby of Standish mentioned General Assistance and MaineCare cost concerns Thursday, with Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Albion, calling it a “disaster of a budget that we inherited” and mentioning Democrats passing recent budgets without GOP support. Sen. Bruce Bickford, R-Auburn, asked Daughtry to commit to two-thirds support for future budgets.
But Bennett urged colleagues to back the plan rather than prolong the MaineCare payment delay. Democratic senators emphasized the human toll of not approving MaineCare money sooner while arguing additional policy debates are appropriate for the separate two-year budget.
“This is not a good beginning to the session,” Bennett told reporters.
Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, used a floor speech to mention constituents in her district who rely on MaineCare, such as a retired couple whose son has Down syndrome.
“It is a vote like this that reminds us all that what we do here truly matters,” Grohoski said, “because if we today are not able to meet our obligations to those who rely on MaineCare, our constituents will certainly not forget the impact of our actions.”