Imagine that you don’t have access to health insurance. How would you manage if, every day, you worried about affording your medication for chronic pain, or a congenital condition? What if you worked more than one job, struggling to put food on the table for your family, but couldn’t afford to see a doctor when you were sick – threatening your ability to work and provide? What if you needed drug or alcohol treatment, but were out of luck because you had no way to pay?
For too many Mainers, these are not hypotheticals. Thousands of us living at or below the poverty line are in these desperate situations. Almost six months have passed since we overwhelmingly voted for MaineCare expansion, but Gov. LePage refuses to respect the will of the voters and implement a law the government is legally bound to enact.
Despite the moral imperative to care for all citizens, and the known economic benefits of the expansion (generating an estimated 6,000 new jobs and providing a vital lifeline to our rural hospitals), all LePage has done is pull disingenuous “requirements” out of thin air to provide a pseudo-logical justification for doing nothing.
Had the administration fulfilled its obligation and presented an expansion plan to the federal government in April, 70,000 people would have access, by July, to the health care they have been without. They could start living healthier and happier lives, more fully participating in their communities without the massive weight of lacking adequate health care.
It is time for the governor to abandon this cruel and heartless crusade against our most vulnerable citizens, and instead listen to the will of the people, who, as Mainers, understand that when any of us suffer, we all do.
Mallory Grobe
Portland
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