In case you missed it, this morning Maine Democrats held a press conference to mark the third anniversary of the federal government’s approval of the Maine Medicaid expansion. At the press conference, Democratic legislators and health care professionals thanked Governor Janet Mills for her successful effort to expand health care to tens of thousands of Maine people. The speakers, who included Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford), Senator Ned Claxton (D-Androscoggin), Rep. Sam Zager (D-Portland), and former free clinic operator Patsy Leavitt, also spoke out against former Governor Paul LePage, who is running for an unprecedented third term, for blocking health care expansion as governor.

Watch a full recording of the press conference here, or read selected quotes below:

“The tactics I saw used by the former Governor to block the will of the people were disturbing and disruptive,” said Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford). “He fought legislators, who worked in a bipartisan manner to send him bills expanding Medicaid. He fought hospitals and health care workers who implored him to end his stubborn war on Maine patients. He fought the will of Maine’s voters, refusing to expand health care even after the people of the state of Maine voted decisively in its favor. This didn’t just hurt a few people, it hurt tens of thousands.”

“When the Affordable Care Act was launched by President Obama in 2010…we anticipated that our patients for the most part would now be eligible for MaineCare and hoped that this would come to pass in Maine,” said Patsy Leavitt (DNP, FNP), the former operator of Leavitt’s Mill Free Clinic in Buxton. “However, the administration at that time in Maine did not opt to participate in the Medicaid expansion, a critical component of the ACA for our patients. When Governor Mills was elected in 2018, she vowed to right this wrong, and expand Medicaid. As a result, In the summer of 2019, we finished up our final medical and dental visits, and celebrated victory—victory for our patients, who finally had their human right to health care recognized.”

“When we expanded MaineCare three years ago, it was such a relief to be able to tell so many people in my district that there was now an option for them to get the health insurance they needed so they could get the health care they needed,” said Senator Ned Claxton (D-Androscoggin), a former family physician.

“Since Governor Mills expanded MaineCare, 90,000 Mainers have had access to care,” said Rep. Sam Zager (D-Portland), a practicing family physician. “It has helped us respond to the opioid epidemic and other chronic and acute health needs before and since this COVID pandemic. It also happens to save tons of money in the long run.”

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