AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine lawmakers are trying to figure out how to pay for voter-approved Medicaid expansion as tens of thousands of low-income Mainers wait for the state to take action.
The Legislature’s appropriations committee on Thursday reviewed competing estimates on how much the state’s share of expansion will cost. The state on Tuesday missed a deadline to submit a routine application to ensure roughly $500 million in annual federal funding for expansion.
Gov. Paul LePage has said he won’t take any steps to expand Medicaid until lawmakers provide funding without raising taxes, dipping into the rainy day fund or using budgetary gimmicks.
The estimates for the Medicaid expansion presented Thursday ranged from $30 million and $58 million in the first year starting in July. Legislatures didn’t say how they would pay for it.
