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Tags: Maine | Gov. Paul LePage | Veto | Expansion | Medicaid | Obamacare

Maine Governor Vows to Veto Any Expansion of Medicaid Under Obamacare

Maine Governor Vows to Veto Any Expansion of Medicaid Under Obamacare
Maine Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a town hall meeting Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in Auburn, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

By    |   Wednesday, 30 December 2015 08:47 AM EST

Maine GOP Gov. Paul LePage, who's repeatedly crushed efforts to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, promises to veto another bill being pushed by two fellow Republican lawmakers.

In his weekly radio address on Maine Public Radio, LePage blasted the legislative effort as election-year politicking.

"We have vetoed Medicaid expansion five times, and we will veto it every time electioneering politicians try to bring it up," he said.

The Sun Journal reports supporters of expansion haven't been able to muster enough support to override another veto.

"As Yogi Berra said, 'It’s déjà vu all over again'," Adrienne Bennett, a spokeswoman for the governor, tells the newspaper. "The results were disastrous for Maine when it expanded this kind of welfare in 2002, and now it’s blowing holes in state budgets around the country."

According to Bennett, Illinois, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Mexico and California were all states that saw their budgets decimated by expanding Medicaid.

"And the list keeps growing. Obamacare is crumbling because there is no such thing as free money," Bennett tells the newspaper.

"We rejected Medicaid expansion five times, and we will reject again, no matter how many times liberal politicians push for it. Unfortunately, there are some politicians using a real addiction pandemic to push welfare expansion to score political points in an upcoming election year. The governor doesn't play that game."

Yet other states are moving toward Medicaid expansion, and 30 states so far have already done so, The Hill reports.

In South Dakota, Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard said the state will have $60 million extra in one-time funds, and could use it to expand Medicaid, the Capital Journal reports.

"I have opposed expansion, but I've never said. 'Never.' I've always said, 'Not now; we can't afford it.'" Daugaard told local groups, the newspaper reports. "And for three years, we've had communication with federal officials about ways to make expansion work for South Dakota. And even though our early conversations were not fruitful, in the past year, that has changed."

In Alabama, a commission appointed by Republican Gov. Robert Bentley recommended expansion, and Louisiana is moving ahead after the election of Democrat John Bel Edwards, The Hill reports.

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Maine GOP Gov. Paul LePage, who's repeatedly crushed efforts to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, promises to veto another bill being pushed by two fellow Republican lawmakers.
Maine, Gov. Paul LePage, Veto, Expansion, Medicaid, Obamacare
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2015-47-30
Wednesday, 30 December 2015 08:47 AM
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