State: 'No providers will get paid' (Maine medicaid meltdown)

Camden Village Soup ^ | 05/05/05 | Victoria Wallack

[Fido969]

Interesting story how Maine got to this point.

[hattend]

Get government out of healthcare

[Irontank]

Get government out of nearly everything...as Charley Reese writes today...one basic rule on which to base your thinking is government is inherently incompetent, and no matter what task it is assigned, it will do it in the most expensive and inefficient way possible...even a benign one is like a clumsy, retarded giant and therefore you have to be careful to limit what tasks you assign it

[spokeshave]

Strange that a story of the bankrupt health services in Maine doesn't mention the Ethiopians who have "adopted" the state and its generous welfare payments.

[monkeywrench]

Yup, and I predict we'll see more and more of these stories.

[aimhigh]

A liberal once tried to provoke me by saying,
"What kind of government would cut the health care of the elderly?"

I responded,
"What kind of people would abandon the health care of their elderly to the government?"

He fumed away silently.

[hershey]

I wondered why no mention of the new immigrants from Somalia.

[1Old Pro]

Get government out of healthcare

No, they can fix this. They just need more money and more government I'm sure.

[JerseyHighlander]

WHo wants to guess there IT contractor doesn't have any penalty clauses in the contract? This is worse than Christie Todd Whitman's Dept. of Motor Vehicles contract scam in NJ.

On the upside, the medical professionals in the state will probably take a nice hard look at Republican candidates next election.

[Fido969]

I think you might be on to something.

[Rebelbase]

This is just a minor oversight that a $10/pack cigarette tax increase will cure.

/N.E. liberal

[festus]

In the private sector this incompetence would be gone in a heartbeat......

[mlmr]

Strange that a story of the bankrupt health services in Maine doesn't mention the Ethiopians who have "adopted" the state and its generous welfare payments.



Probably because they are Somolians.

[Tribune7]

ping

[spartan68]

D - Another item for the meltdown list.... B

[SheLion]

This is just a minor oversight that a $10/pack cigarette tax increase will cure.

5-14-05 - "As two legislative committees heard testimony Thursday on the potential effects of a cigarette tax increase, Baldacci health policy chief Trish Riley told The Associated Press that "the administration is not ready to embrace a cigarette tax.""

---

It's a good thing!  Maine smoker's are already paying billions into the state.  Maybe "they" are beginning to realize that Mainers are finding this out.  One can only hope.

Baldacci to promote new budget talks

[SheLion]

D - Another item for the meltdown list.... B

Maine Ping

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

“No providers will get paid by the end of the fiscal year unless recovery is done,” said Rebecca Wyke, the governor’s commissioner of financial services, about the need to get some of the money back in order to pay those still owed.

That's the same process used in Communist Soviet Union.

[SheLion]

I think the biggest cost is ILLEGAL ALIENS.

1. They don't pay their bills (as well as some Americans).
2. Health care providers have to charge legitimate patients more to absorb the costs.
3. So, insurance companies raise their premiums.
4. Government subsidizes public hospitals with increasingly higher taxes, yet they are still insolvent.

Also there are other factors... The insurance agents (as well as medical malpractice lawyers, pharmaceutical reps, and doctors) need a new Mercedes every year, so they don't cover dental either (which is essential to good health, not to mention part of the human anatomy).

[Grut]

No providers will get paid...

So? They'll run a supplementary budget item through the Legislature. Spending more is never a problem in Maine.