Posted on 11/16/2005 8:02:21 AM PST by robowombat
Maine Now Has Biggest Medicaid Population in Nation By IPR Nov 9, 2005, 20:42
PORTLAND -- The Maine Heritage Policy Center today cited updated 2004 data from the Kaiser Family Foundation that shows Maine now has the largest Medicaid program in the country, covering 21 percent of all non-elderly individuals, those under 65 years old, within the state. Almost all Mainers over 65 have Medicare coverage.
"Maine once again is an example for the nation of an unsustainable level of Medicaid spending," said Tarren Bragdon, director of health reform initiatives for The Maine Heritage Policy Center. "Maine is number one in tax burden, and now it is number one in Medicaid. This new data does not bode well for Maine taxpayers."
From 2000 to 2004, the portion of Maine people under 65 on Medicaid increased 9.7 percent, while the uninsured rate dropped a scant 0.4 percent. This means for every 97 new people on Medicaid the number uninsured dropped by just 4. 1 This shift shows that almost all of the increase in Maine Medicaid came from individuals dropping Maine's expe! nsive private health insurance coverage. Maine has had the largest increase of all 50 states in its Medicaid program from 2000 to 2004. 2
"This new data shows that Maine's elected officials need to act soon in lowering Maine exorbitant health insurance costs," said Mr. Bragdon. "There is clearly a correlation between the growth in Medicaid and a reduction in those purchasing private health insurance. Maine has some of the most expensive health premiums in the country as a direct result of Maine's expensive insurance regulations including guaranteed issue and community rating. Elected officials have the ability to lower private health insurance premiums and they must act soon to slow the growth! of Medicaid."
The portion of Maine adults 19-64 on Medicaid is 16 percent or almost one in six - also the highest in the nation, double the national average of 8 percent or about one in twelve. The portion of Maine kids 0-18 on Medicaid is 34 percent over one in three- 7th highest in the nation, 8 percent higher than the national average of 26 percent or one in four.
Maine has maintained a low uninsured rate of 12 percent of non-elderly Mainers. Eight other states have the same or a lower rate of uninsured. 3
Interestingly, Maine's high Medicaid numbers are not driven by a particularly large low-income population, compared to other states. Twenty-two states have the same or a larger portion of their residents who are low income (below 200% of poverty). 4
Stated Mr. Bragdon, "Maine Medicaid has become the TennCare of this decade. In the 1990s Tennessee began its massive Medicaid expansion called TennCare and recently had to drop coverage for over 200,000 individuals because the program was bankrupting the state. Maine is setting itself up for the same problem."
The Kaiser Family Foundation data is available at: www.StateHealthFacts.org.
1 Kaiser Family Foundation. Health Coverage and the Uninsured. Coverage Trends Among Nonelderly. % Point Change by Coverage Type. 2 Kaiser Family Foundation. Health Coverage and the Uninsured. Coverage Trends Among Nonelderly. % Point Change in Medicaid. 3 Kaiser Family Foundation. Health Coverage and the Uninsured. Health Insurance Status: Non-elderly (0-64). 4 Kaiser Family Foundation. Demographics and the Economy. People in Poverty. Distribution by FPL (federal poverty limit).
Sigh. Something needs to turn the leviathan around. But what will?
One particular Mass immigrant was complaining that Maine needed MORE taxes [to fund all the government gimmees this individual wanted]. A few minutes later, this SAME person was boasting how he was going to make sure the tax assessor assessed a low value for his new home, because there was only a subfloor (and some other unfinished portions).
Not that these things weren't going to be finished in a timely manner, only that the assessor would get the impression that the home was going to remain in such a state. Yup, for the sake of having a lower tax bill on HIS home. Let the "idiots" who are honest pay on a accurate assessment... that's the mentality. One law for me and another for thee.
That's what Maine is dealing with. What is right is defined as "what is to my personal benefit today". How this affects others matters not.
Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Anyone who has not reached that thresh hold is actually not reasonin as a human being yet.
What are you talking about! Fear and loathing! You know, we have a lot of FReepers that live in this state, and we see no fear or loathing to anything but the LIBS here. Maine is a beautiful state and it's a pity that it is being run into the ground by the likes of Baldacci and his ilk.
Fear and loathing? heh!
Gawd, don't get me started on the 1,200 Somalis living off of our welfare system that live in Lewiston, Maine. Thanks to Baldacci and Rep Tom Allen, they even want to bring in MORE!!!! No wonder Maine is second behind TN for being the poorest states in the nation.
If I was Governor of one of the poorest states in the nation, I would hide myself under a rock!!!!!
I've never figured out why anyone, poor or rich, would actually live in the Northeast.
Miserable sweaty summers, not at all like the nice moderate West Coast summers. Miserable winters... the cold has a particular Yankee-y bite to it from the humidity, lots of winds too.
ISTR the Somalis actually arrived in the US in Georgia. They drove through some 13ish states to get to Maine, suppose it was for the climate??
You can therefore perceive the extent of the problem. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The days of judges...
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
These are indeed the days of judges, in more ways than one.
Ruth 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
Compare:
Amos 8:11-14
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner (derek = way, road, lit. and also in a sense of custom or manner) of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
Beersheva... into the desert/wilderness.
Matthew 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Sorry, didn't mean to insult you or fellow conservatives!
Anyway, the rain kicked in the next day and didn't stop until we left three days later. Trips like that reinforce why I'll never live there again. (:
Lewistan. :-(
The only reason to import Muslims into a community is to destroy it. Lewistan is like the weak plant in the garden. Bugs and diseases go for the easiest targets. Disease gets a foothold in the center of the garden (state), or rather, the center of mass plantings (population), and the bugs are conveniently located to their next victims. Without proper pest control, it's only a matter of time before the garden is history.
Lewiston, Maine
"Maine is crazy cold," says Abdullahi Abdullahi, president of the new Somali Community Development Organization in Clarkston. But, he says, "the welfare system is much better."
Indeed, in moving from Georgia to Maine, Somalis are trading one of the nation's least generous welfare systems for one of its most generous.
Lewiston provides general assistance to anyone in need, splitting the cost with the state. Such relief was unavailable in Clarkston. In Georgia, there is a four-year time limit for receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. In Maine it's five, but even that can be extended. About a quarter of Lewiston's Somali families receive that form of welfare, according to the state. And in Maine, a state-funded program assists single parents while they attend college.
Lobster off the boat last week was $3.75 per lbs. Pretty reasonable for this time of year.
Let's give them all a southern vacation--in New Orleans.
"And then there are the Somalis..."
There aren't enough somalis to screw the state up this bad. We can only blame both our wonderful political parties.
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