AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) The administration of Maine’s new Democratic governor says that federal regulators have approved the state’s ongoing, voter-approved expansion of Medicaid.
Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday that U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Maine’s plan retroactive to July 2, 2018.
She praised it as a win for rural hospitals and thousands who have applied for expansion since July 2. Nearly 60 percent of voters approved the 2017 referendum, but her GOP predecessor blocked expansion over his fiscal concerns.
Maine has enrolled 16,797 people under expansion since Mills rolled-out expansion on her first day. She’s set up a Wilton call center in Wilton to help sign up enrollees in mid-April.
Her two-year budget provides nearly $150 million for Maine’s expansion costs. Mills estimates $800 million in federal funding through 2021.
