|
|
MAIN
|
 |
|
|
A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
|||
|
Volume 9 No. 2 |
August 2005 |
||
|
|
MAIN
|
|
|
|
A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
|||
|
Volume 9 No. 2 |
August 2005 |
||
MAIN Fights Cuts to MaineCare
through Three Budget ProcessesThis legislative session was like no other. Over this past session, the Governor and the legislature passed three different budgets. As in previous budget years, MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid Program, was threatened with serious cuts. While MAIN and its allies were successful in eliminating or reducing many of the proposed cuts to the program, the three budgets that passed all included some form of cut to the MaineCare program.
When the Governor introduced his first budget for Fiscal Year 2006 and 2007 at the beginning of January, the legislators were faced with:
A $730 million projected budget deficit for the next two years;
An immediate need to pay for property tax reform and increased education spending of $250 million over two years; and
A public commitment by many not to raise broad-based taxes.
Given all of these factors, the legislature at the end of March passed a two year budget that included cuts to health and human services, an increase in education spending and a borrowing package of more than $250 million to fill the rest of the budget deficit and prevent further cuts. The most severe cuts to health and human services were for those in the noncategorical MaineCare group and to MaineCare mental health services. There were also changes made to the estate recovery policy for MaineCare members who are aged 55 or older .
Because of the commitment to avoid raising broad-based taxes and a desire to prevent deeper cuts to health and human services, a majority of legislators passed a budget that included a significant borrowing package. This borrowing package came under attack and a number of individuals began circulating a petition to overturn the borrowing through referendum – the so-called People’s Veto.
In addition, the Governor and the legislature faced yet another shortfall for the next two fiscal years due to a reduction in the amount of federal money for the MaineCare program. The percentage the federal government pays towards MaineCare decreases in Fiscal Year 2006 and again in Fiscal Year 2007. These decreases lead to a reduction of $73 million in federal dollars for the MaineCare program. The Governor’s Part 2 budget proposed a number of ways to deal with this reduction, including a cut to the MaineCare prescription drug program. In response to the advocacy efforts of MAIN members, AARP, and other groups representing the elderly and disabled, the legislature reduced this cut by nearly a third. We expect that as a result of these cuts more drugs will be removed from the preferred drug list and will require Prior Authorization before MaineCare will pay for them. But we will not know the details of the new plan for a couple of months. We will provide more detailed information about changes to the MaineCare prescription drug program in our next newsletter.
By the time the legislature passed the Part 2 budget, the pressure to remove the borrowing package passed in the Part 1 budget was picking up momentum. Legislators expressed concerns about the long-term impact of this borrowing package on the state’s financial health. Because of these concerns and uncertainty about attempts to gather signatures for a veto of the Part 1 budget, significant pressure was placed on legislative leadership to repeal the borrowing package and find other ways to fill the deficit before the new fiscal year started on July 1. In response to this pressure, the legislature passed a third budget that did just this and implemented a mix of “across the board” cuts and a targeted tax increase to help pay for the repeal of the borrowing package. Once again there were cuts to mental health services in MaineCare and a small cut to the noncategorical MaineCare program. However, MAIN, partnered with the Maine Cancer Society, the Coalition on Smoking or Health and others to successfully advocate for a one dollar increase in the cigarette tax. The income generated from the cigarette tax prevented more dramatic cuts to the MaineCare program.
We extend our appreciation to all MAIN members and others who fought to protect funding for vital health and human services programs during this legislative session. Thanks to everyone who came to the legislature to testify, or attended a rally or spoke in person with his/her legislator. Also thanks to all of you who called or e-mailed your legislators to weigh in on the budget process. This legislative session asked a lot of everyone and there were numerous times when action was critical. We thank all of you for taking action when it was needed over and over again! Your involvement made a difference. Even though there were cuts to the MaineCare program, together we were able to fight off proposals for even deeper cuts.
