Maine governor says he’d run again if incoming governor doesn’t expand Medicaid sustainably
Outgoing Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) said Tuesday that he would consider running against Janet Mills (D), the governor elect, if she does not implement Medicaid expansion in a financially “sustainable” way.
LePage defined sustainability as Mills leaving the state’s budget stabilization fund untouched, The Press Herald reported he told WVOM hosts Ric Tyler and George Hale.
The fund contains about $276 million, while the expansion would likely cost around $200 million, according to LePage.
{mosads}Instead, the governor suggested Maine should increase its taxes on hospitals, as he suggested earlier this year.
“Listen, I wish her all the success in the world because if she succeeds, Maine succeeds,” LePage said. “And I want her to succeed. I love this state and I want her to be very successful.”
“If she expands Medicaid on Jan. 2, 100 percent of the cost will be borne by the state of Maine,” Le Page said, noting that the federal government hasn’t approved the state’s expansion application.
“If she doesn’t do it sustainably, in four years we will be where we were in 2010 and I will be back to run against her,” said LePage, who is 70. “We’re the same age, so we could have a good time.”
The paper reports that the governor did not explain his reference to 2010.
He had said previously that he planned to move to Florida for tax purposes if he lost his reelection bid.
Mills’s spokesman, Scott Ogden, responded in a statement to the paper Tuesday night.
“Janet won the election with more votes than any governor in Maine history, and she is the first governor since 1966 to be elected to her first term with a majority of the vote,” Ogden said. “The people of Maine have spoken. The campaign is over.”
“It is now time to govern, and the Governor-elect is focused solely on leading Maine in a new, better direction, including implementing voter-approved Medicaid expansion in a financially sustainable manner and in accordance with state law and federal guidelines.”
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