Medicaid Cuts Are Part of Larger Battle in Maine - NYTimes.com

Paul LePage (Craig Dilger - NY Times)

Maine Governor Paul LePage, a guy with a rags to riches story, is a practitioner of the politics of resentment.  Quick with one liners of the Reaganesque`welfare cadillac' sort, he eases the way for draconian Medicaid cuts for those with no resources - like the childless adults whose eligibility for assisted living he would end.  The Times reports: - GWC
Medicaid Cuts Are Part of Larger Battle in Maine - NYTimes.com:

"AUGUSTA, Me. — At a town hall meeting in the rural western part of the state last week, a woman asked Gov. Paul R. LePage if he could confirm a worrying rumor she had heard: that poor out-of-staters flock here because the public benefits are so generous.

Yes, he could. “If you come across from New Hampshire at 8 o’clock in the morning, by 4 o’clock in the afternoon you will have subsidized housing in the state of Maine,” the governor declared. “We need to change the rules.”"

This month Mr. LePage announced a plan to reduce Maine’s Medicaid rolls by 65,000 people — about 18 percent of the total. He is asking the Republican-controlled Legislature to make childless adults and all 19- and 20-year-olds ineligible for the program, known asMaineCare, and to tighten income requirements for parents. He also wants to eliminate an array of optional benefits, including dental care and room and board at assisted living centers.
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