PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ Maine’s high court is set to hear legal arguments as Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration fights a court order requiring him to roll-out voter-approved Medicaid expansion.
A state judge ordered LePage to submit paperwork needed for Maine to receive federal Medicaid expansion funding. A judge Wednesday will hear the LePage administration’s request to not submit the paperwork while he appeals the order.
Nearly three out of five voters last fall voted to expand Medicaid to 80,000 Mainers by July 2. Advocates are encouraging Mainers to sign up.
LePage has told lawmakers to pass long-term funding without raising taxes. He vetoed a bill to fund Maine’s expansion costs and now suggests new hospital taxes could cover expansion.
LePage recently said he’d risk jail before expanding Medicaid and putting Maine in “red ink.”
