Maine Gov. Paul LePage raised hackles last weekend for calling the IRS “the new Gestapo.” The tax agency earned this comparison to the Nazi secret police, apparently, because it will be charged with penalizing those who do not buy health insurance under Obamacare.
Yet the most remarkable aspect of LePage’s remarks wasn’t the Nazi comparison. It was what he didn’t say: Instead of joining Republican governors of six other states in announcing he will refuse to participate in the expansion of Medicaid, he wants to wait and see how the numbers add up.
The likely reason for LePage’s reservation of judgment? The Medicaid expansion won’t cost Maine’s state government a dime — in fact, it should save the state somewhere between $65 million and $118 million over six years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
That’s because Maine already offers Medicaid to many of the people who are set to get it under the new law’s expansion. As such, it won’t sign up as many new members as in other states, and it will start getting a more generous federal match for the people it already covers.
Maine wasn’t forced to expand Medicaid in the first place, and if LePage thinks expanded Medicaid is too costly, he can always propose repealing it. If Maine did that, opting out of the Obamacare expansion would save the state money. But expanded Medicaid is popular, and though LePage enjoys a Republican majority in both houses of his legislature, that majority is narrow and fractious. He probably couldn’t shrink Medicaid eligibility if he wanted to.
LePage undoubtedly understands he’s going to have no choice politically but to take the Medicaid expansion funds. Most other states aren’t in Maine’s position — there will be a state-level fiscal cost to expanding Medicaid — but as I wrote last week, they can also be expected to fall into line and take the money, because the terms are very favorable.
In Texas, for example, Governor Rick Perry has said he plans to turn down the Medicaid expansion funds. But even using aggressive assumptions about participation, the federal government can be expected to pay 93.2 percent of the cost of expanded Medicaid in Texas through 2019. That means Texas would be turning down $66.6 billion in federal aid in order to save $4.5 billion over six years.
That proposition is going to be untenable once doctors, hospitals and patients start demanding that the state take the deal. Paul LePage has already figured this out. In time, Rick Perry will, too.
Where does the Federal Government gets its money?
Maine gets more federal dollars than it provides in taxes. About $1.20 for ever dollar in taxes paid.
The Federal Government loses money on Maine when it comes to taxes. Maine is a sink hole and endless pit for welfare, food stamps and Medicaid. All Maine does is contribute to the National Debt.
Maine is nowhere near as deep a sinkhole for federal dollars as the southern conservative states. Mississippi is of course the leader of the pack. They consume over $4 for every dollar they pay in taxes.
The “conservative” states that destroy wages and revenue and then make up the difference with other peoples money are the real out of control liberal spenders. They get bailed out each and every day. They like to level this charge against democrats but the rhetoric does not agree with the facts on the ground.
There should be a penalty for those states that over consume the publics funds. This would hurt the people in those states in the short run but would force change in the longer term.
Yup….and “Liberal” states like California and New York contribute much more to the federal government then they receve back.
I’m not getting the extra .20 cents. I would just as soon refuse the Federal money, AND the mandates connected to it.
Show me a study which tells what that would do.
You mean other than make your roads and transportation infrastructure unusable, lower overall life expectancy due to millions losing health care coverage and make education (even K-8) unaffordable for most?
Funny thing about believing the Feds do all that.
My heart suffers each time I fill out my Federal tax form. Thank goodness I have private health insurance which I paid for myself. In full.
The transportation infrastructure is funded through State and Federal gas tax which would (assumedly) be collected totally by the State.
Without the Federal mandates which go with Federal funding our educational system would be as good and much cheaper than now.
Medicare (where most Mainers get their health care) is paid for by contributions from employers, and employees. The estimate of people effected by the new health care plan is 92,000 in Maine. Not millions.
You need facts to argue. pure partisan emotion doesn’t do it.
My heart lifts each time I make out my taxes. I think, “What a great country we have!” Where else but in America can you even have this conversation?
you don’t travel much do you?
England
Sweden
Switzerland
Japan
Luxemburg
Finland
Spain
Greece
South Africa
Mexico
Canada
The Philippians
Brazil
Iceland
Scotland
Norway
Poland
Germany
Austria
India
Argentina
Peru
Chile
Hungry
Australia
I’ve run out of energy for this but there are more Nations which allow “conversations like this”.
The federal government subsidizes everything I mentioned. You are wrong about how transportation is funded (if you think its totally through gas taxes, you are WAY off), a few thousand years of history shows us how many people get left behind when education is only a private, for profit venture and I did not mention the new health care plan, I was responding to your hypothetical. And your hypothetical was in responce to a direct fact I gave.
Based on that, I rolled my eyes at your last sentence.
So weep for those left behind. It doesn’t bother me. Tell me how many are left behind in socialist societies like the one we are creating?
Socialism! That’s a new one! Nobody on this site throws that word around without knowing what they are talking about!
Name one thing that President Obama has done that fits the actual definition of Socialism more than say, President Eisenhower or President Nixon (and remember, under those commie bastards, the rich paid double the tax rate they do today. DOUBLE! And that’s a fact, not just partisan emotion). 1950’s America was WAY more “Socialist” than today.
“Mark” says that : “Medicare (where most Mainers get their health care) is paid for by contributions from employers, and employees. The estimate of people effected by the new health care plan is 92,000 in Maine. Not millions.”
Hmmmm. I’m pretty sure that in order to get health care from Medicare, you have to be either over 65 or permanently disabled. It is also paid for by the federal government out of general revenue, not by employers and employees. Maybe Mark is thinking of FICA unemployment insurance, because that is funded by employers and employees. But it’s not healthcare. I’ll certainly go along with his last sentence: “You need facts to argue. pure partisan emotion doesn’t do it.”
Actually, I think that Medicare is funded by a tax on every dollar of income in everyone’s paycheck.
Medicare is funded from general revenues, which can be payroll taxes, transaction taxes, excises, customs duties, and taxes on unearned income.
Maine has the potential to restore a village lifestyle, economy, educational system, and energy supply…walk to work for a change, teach kids at home….Follow the accomplishments of the Nearings and feed yourself for free!
Your utopia might work if we all had several acres of rich bottomland. My 2+ acres of forested, high ledge, steep slope land won’t cut it. Great idea for the chosen few but in this day and age, a trip back 150 years. Coming out of this cloister, where do your kids end up?
Show me a town in the state that hasn’t taken federal grant money in the last year.
You & me both
So, if you refuse federal money, then I guess the Coast Guard pulls out of its bases, and the FAA quits running air traffic at Portland. And no more subsidies for the highway system. And no more money for Title One in public schools. And I guess that Mainers would then only get back what they put in to Social Security. So if you’re out of benefits at age 79, oh well. And no more federal disaster assistance, or help with forest fire fighting, and no more extension service. And then I guess they’d close all the customs port of entry, so that the only way you could get into Canada would be by way of New Hampshire.
And if a member of your family is kidnapped, don’t bother calling the FBI. And if you’re running a medical research program at a Maine hospital, don’t waste time applying for an NIH grant.
Sounds like paradise.
Welfare is a way of life in Maine even for the government.
Printing press.
They print it and mint it. Maybe they will send that offshore in the near future.
Since the days of Ronald “Deficits don’t matter” Reagan, they get a large part of it by selling revenue bonds to investors and foreign governments. China, Japan, Great Britain are the top three, I think. Great Britain is probably a front for a lot of middle eastern oil money.
So now that he is cooperating with the Gestapo whats this make Lepage?
Mussolini?
Mussolini…..haha that is a good one!
Lepage probably will work with the ‘Gestapo’
It’s a natural match up.
“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” — Benito Mussolini.
“Facism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and Corporate power.” Benito Mussolini.
Sound familiar?
I’m no LePage fan, but when you make comparisons like this, you lower yourself to the same level, and invalidate your own arguments, as he does.
This ain’t my first rock fight!
When it’s raining rocks I am apt to throw a few back!
Nope,,, Nick Bottom. Nothing’s changed.
You and others in this venue must he the only ones who don’t suspect the IRS uses Gestapo-like methods to collect taxes. Thanks Governor for reminding us of this in order to keep the IRS from ruining our lives.
Actually, more like Himmler.
No, Himmler was brutally effective … Paul definitively has a Benito, El Duce’, thing going on.
Wait and see — yeah right — he’s waiting for orders from somewhere else.
“Paul LePage has already figured this out.”
The writer obviously doesn’t know LePage very well.
“Rick Perry will, too.”
Ditto.
These writers sure like to throw a spin. Don’t they.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnO-58vBaQE
LOL… Are you trying to suggest that our Governor listens to conservative Radio?
Say it ant so.
More likely WVOM and they broadcast SAVAGE NATION…
Speaking of taxes….look at this story form the CBO concerning who got hurt he most during this recession.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/10/cbo-rich-pay-outsized-share-taxes/
“Hurt”
is surely a matter of perspective,
{ In terms of actual earnings, the top 1 percent suffered the most in the
recession, with their average earnings dropping from $1.9 million to $1.2
million. The lowest 20 percent saw their incomes drop from $23,900 to $23,500
during that time. }
The Millionaire has to go without the New Yacht, the lowest guy has to leave the Hamburger out of the Hamburger Helper!
This campaign theme of ‘taxing the rich’ is an old populist political theme, perhaps best used by Adolph Hitler to rouse the unemployed and dispirited German youth in the 20’s and 30’s….only he added ‘Jews’ to ‘rich’ and made them the butt of his speeches much like Obama does Wall Street Bankers.
No wonder so many Jews with long memories of pre-Holocaust Germany and the role of the Gestapo in confiscating the wealth of ‘rich Jews’ are very uncomfortable with the Obama 2012 Campaign themes….. brings back bad memories.
Obama is acting within the Constitution.
Taxing is in the Constitution,
Confiscating without Compensation is Not!
All this Hyperbole about “confiscating” is just propaganda, I would be more concerned with “THAT” tool of fascism then Legal Taxing.
Maybe he IS dividing with distinction but at least he hasn’t come right out and Admitted it such as the Repub Wisconsin Governor who told his “Rich” contributor of his plan to “Divide and Conquer” to turn the State Red!
When you “Declare” Class Warfare expect it in return!
The German parliament approved every one of Hitler’s policies too…and Obama promises more and uses more and more lies…..it’s not taxation; oh really, who cares the RICH are going to pay.
Lots of similarities…I’m not the only one nervously noticing the parallels. …the more unemployed and underemployed, the more discontent and more clay for mass manipulators.
The presidential bully pulpit is a lot larger and better funded than a governor’s…and the whole world is nervously watching.
Only in your paranoid mind.
My daughter gave me that line about Obamas “Silver Tongue”, I can sort through what he says,sifting out substance from fluff– it’s Romneys “Silver Spoon” stuck in his throat with no real meaningful words comeing out that worries me!
yup and your thoughts are worth a penny(IRS ruling).
Obama acting within the constitution? I think you have been reading too many leftist/liberal/progressive/democrat publications – or maybe just dreaming!
Godwin’s Law. You’re out of the game, organicgardener.
Game is still played extensively, esp. when Bush, Cheney and the Koch Brothers are invoked; and wordsmiths use more subtle code words to invoke the association, i.e. Storm trooper.
Point, set, match!
It is far better to make millions and pay thousands in taxes than it is
earn thousands and pay hundreds in taxes.
I read an article in the WSJ that said how lucky the people who made $17,000 a year because they paid no taxes…LOL
I am no millionaire, but I pay what I consider a huge amount of taxes and I hate the fact that the majority of that money is used to kill people and break things in the interest of some kind of resource (oil), rather than educate and heal people which is where I want my tax dollars spent.
Not an accurate picture. When they say “earn” income they’re only refering to wages and salaries. It speaks nothing of capital gains which are a significant source of income for the wealthiest Americans. Couple earned income and invested income and you will see a very different picture.
“Hurt the most” is a kind of ridiculous thing to say anyway. If you’re middle class and you lost your job, dollar for dollar you may have been hurt less, but 1,000 to someone making 50,000 a year is a much bigger blow than 10,000 is to someone making 500,000 a year. Obviously.
Paulie may not be the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree but even he is starting to see the writing on the wall. For every person he cut’s off from Medicaid he loses 2 to 4 family votes in the next election. Even Charlie Webster can do this math. And when, and I hope I am wrong on this, those same folk’s that Paulie wants to cut off from Medicaid begin dying simply because Paulie decided their care wasn’t worth the effort, well, those 2 to 4 votes start spreading, like locust’s. The new ACA is going to provide more and better coverage for everybody. If it wasn’t then by now Boehner and Company would have been up on the press podium showing everybody the proof in writing. They haven’t and they can’t since they know they are all blowing smoke up everyone’s skirt.
Does the ACA have some ‘bug’s’ in it ? Probably since every program, starting out, has a few issue’s that crop up, to be solved on-the-spot, by the folk’s who run it. But that’s part of anything new. Doing what Perry’s doing is going back to what we all know doesn’t work. Once Texas get’s it’s head wrapped around the real money figure’s, and see just what mess Perry’s dragging Texas into because of his paranoid political arrogance, Perry’s gonna get the ‘Texas’ kicked outta him faster than a NFL field goal kicking contest. Paulie clearly has someone looking at Texas and is reading their tea leaves well in advance of the GOP Convention. That’s smart politics. The question is will the rest of the GOP be as smart as Paulie’s tea leaf reader ? Given the current trend, it doesn’t look like it…………..
The trouble is that after CharLie does the math, he’ll lie about the results. I don’t understand why LePage has to wait…. why doesn’t he just ask CharLie who will win the election? Surely CharLie knows…. In fact, it’s so obvious that we shouldn’t spend anything on the election. Just let CharLie cast one vote!
Nobody is going to die on account of state cuts. Fear tactics by Dems, that’s all it is. I’m all in favor of downsizing the state government that has become too big and intrusive over 4 decades of liberal governance and has created a society of dependency. LePage is a welcome change.
There are already people dying from lack of health insurance! Open your eyes. According to the Huffington Post, 29000 died in 2010 from lack of insurance. There are also working people losing their jobs because of excessive insurance claims driving the premium of their employer.
People in this country might die on account of lack of medical care, but not because of lack of insurance. Thanks for pointing out the 29 thousand figure. Since a prior poster stated there were “tens of thousands dying without care or coverage” in Maine, those 29 thousand must all be in Maine. I’m surprised you didn’t attempt to correct that intentional blooper or lie, a term of accusation self-righteous liberals have a penchant for hurling.
I guess they are just acceptable casualties to you. Some of those were my friends. As George Carlin said,” As soon as you leave the womb, Conservatives don’t care about you until you are old enough to go in the Military.”
Absolutely, absolutely ludicrous! I pointed out an obvious lie and now you are trying to defend a lie with an outlandish opinion without any basis. This reflects a prejudicial attitude by you. But since your brought up a condescending view about conservatives I’m compelled to point out one solid truth: Conservatives at every level of income donate more to charity than liberals. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
“People in this country might die on account of lack of medical care, but not because of lack of insurance.” Huh? So are you saying that having medical insurance does not equate to medical care? What are you trying to say? BTW the only reason why Conservitives “donate” more money is because their tithes are counted as charitable gifts. This is not necessarrily charity, in most cases it is not charity at all merely a way for the church to expand and enrich itself.
No one, insured or not, is refused healthcare in this country, not even illegal aliens. Concerning charity, I should have been more specific and stated: apart from church donations, conservatives at every level of income, donate more to the poor than liberals. You can check out this fact too if you wish.
Oh yes; the Huffington Post (an archtypical leftist/progressive/liberal publication) is a truly trustworthy source of information – NOT! The fact that you quote them speaks volumes for your personal viewpoint (and veracity!)
……….
Like a lot of others folks you are confusing lack of health care with lack of health insurance. Anyway, LePage has already taken some steps to address the high cost and lack of healthcare insurance by getting rid of some onerous state regulations that prevented Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield from offering more affordable insurance plans and caused four of the remaining five insurance carriers in the prior Administration to stop doing business in Maine. As the word gets around more Mainers will take advantage of the new environment. The situation of insurance affordability will further improve with an improving economy. What both state and federal government don’t need right now is continued increased spending caused by growing social dependency.
……
The majority of all Americans did not support Obamacare when it passed, and the majority still does not support it. It looks like Obamacare is in real trouble right now. The governor’s wait-and-see approach is the appropriate one for now.
I’ve read a lot of polling data on this one. The opposition to the Affordable Care Act comes in two forms.
Perhaps you’re not aware that ” a New York Times/CBS News poll released in early June found that 37
percent of Americans believed the law went too far, while 27 percent
said not far enough and 25 percent said about right.
When you delve deeper into the numbers 26 percent of those in
opposition thought the law was about right or wanted the government to
go even further – they wanted a Medicare type program to cover all
Americans regardless of age.”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/03/americans-are-starting-to-approve-obamacare/
The latest poll taken this month by Quinnipiac University shows 49% of voters believe Congress should repeal the Affordable Care Act while 43% believe it should let it stand. Those figures are consistent with most polling results since the Act was passed.
Another recent poll, Reuters/Ipso Poll, shows that while there has been a 5% significant bump in favor of Obamacare since the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, still the majority of voters oppose the law, if by a narrow 52-48 percent split.
Spin the poll results all you want, but still, Americans are in favor of repealing a proposal they opposed all along.
The President has been rather devious in public when speaking in favor about the Act. In his speeches he asks his audiences if they want to see preexisting conditions and the ability of parents to buy their kids insurance until age 26. What he knows but doesn’t say however is that with repeal of Obamacare those stipulations very likely will be enacted into law along with much needed tort reform (not found in Obamacare) that would make it harder to sue doctors and enjoys the broad support of the general public.
What are you talking about?
Lepage opened the flood gates for premium increases!
Allowing Insurance companies to discriminate against rural and elderly .
Parroting the Heritage Center doesn’t do any good we heard it before—-
we are on to that scam!
Actually, premiums have gone up very little in the past year. For those who took advantage of new plans offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, those premiums cost much less.
I dont believe you!
I’ll make it a little easier for you to believe me by giving you this website reference. You can verify information from that source yourself by making appropriate web searches.
http://www.themainewire.com/
PS: In order to read the appropriate page, you will need to access the above link and then type in and enter “Maine Insurance Reform” in the box provided therein.
Like I said,
Parroting the Heritage Center doesn’t do any good we heard it before—-we are on to that scam!
In other words you are saying, “Don’t bother me with the facts”. That’s not an adequate response.
The oroneous regulations you state are that LePage has now removed the State from any rate increase approval process that goes above 10% of Anthem’s previous year’s rate. That means that Anthem can now legally raise their rates up to 9.9 %, each and every year, and Maine has no authority to say squat ! And to top it off LePage fired the last remaining Insurance Commissioner that kept Anthem’s greed in check. Great, so now we have an Insurance Commissioner that is going to go along with Anthem’s increase’s, even if he has to get the Governor’s approval to do it in order to keep his job. So much for oversight and protection from rate gouging ! And people wonder why they’re feeling that little ‘wiggle’ under their wallet and checkbook.
And the ACA isin’t social dependence. It’s responsible Government doing both what it was elected to do and what it’s supposed to be doing, namely looking out for the public’s health and welfare objectively. Now it that offends someone’s concept of being responsible simply because someone is willing to let themselves, and their families, get the ‘screw’ because they don’t like the idea of someone else looking out for them, well, too bad. You don’t want to be screwed in your health care, fine. Move to Africa and have fun looking out for your health care, if you can find any. The ACA is going to provide better care at better rate’s, with a lot less interference from the Insurance Company’s, than we have now. And as far as how popular the idea of the ACA is one need only listen to Romney today when he told people in Texas, where Rick Perry’s already in serious trouble from his mouth, that he would repeal the ACA on day 1 of his Presidency. Almost 30% of Texas HAS NO HEALTH CARE because of Perry’s racist and political arrogance toward the middle class and the poor in Texas. Now Romney want’s to join in ? Please, can the GOP please put Paulie and his Crew in the boat as well ? Maine needs the relief !
Have you checked how much the health insurance premiums have gone up in the past year? I doubt you have by the way you talk. It’s the policies of the previous Maine Administration that caused insurance rates to sky-rocket and caused Mainers to drop out of the market before LePage became governor. It’s also those same policies that caused 4 out of the last remaining 5 insurers to cop out of the state. LePage has corrected that, even though those insurers are not back.
By the way, you seem to claim to have more right to be here in America than I do. For your information, I was born in the US. I’m a proud veteran. I’ve paid taxes my entire adult life. And, except recently when I retired, I paid my way through my entire adult life, not drawing one single penny from any government entitlement source. Besides that, I did all of this with two disabilities. One of these alone qualified me as being 100% disabled. Yet I have never drawn on any pension of account of these. I do charitable work and give more to charity than most people do. Finally, I’m grateful for all I have, and don’t consider myself a hero by any means.
Start wishing people like me away to some faraway country and see how long this nation survives. This nation was made up of struggling people who made this country one of the best places on earth to live. If you prefer a more socialistic nation in the habit of supporting wimps and bums, try going to Europe where many governments therein only wished they had not promised the degree of handouts they can no longer afford. Unfortunately, trying to scale back benefits in those countries is nearly impossible as people take to the streets, burn, and loot at even the slightest hint of austerity measures. What is going on in Europe right now should serve as a warning signal to all of us here one ocean away.
I salute you sir!
Your posts indicate values that are now sadly lacking in a large percentage of east and west coast USA population. Few posting on this thead ever served their country. Instead of earning their way, they whine because we now have a governor that is trying to restore fiscal sanity before we have the same kind of anarchy that you (rightfully) point out is happening in Greece (and soon) in France!
Finally, I would not trust any of the information that is posted on this thread without independant verification. It would be a safe bet that not one person has read the entire Abomacare (abomination commonly called “Obamacare” of “ACA”) bill with its (reported) 2700 pages that many of our representatives or even the SCOTUS judges who declared it costitutional admit that they have not read it!
By the way, my background parallels yours. I too served our country (four years active military and four years reserve.) That earned me the right to attend college under the Korean GI bill. I am still employed (at 78 years of age) in a manufacturing company I now own that also provides employment for 35 employees who have been with me for (an average of) 19 years!
Unfortunately, your and my thinking is now considered “radical” in the current “you-owe-me” climate and thinking that appears to be prevalent on this thread! And I doubt that we will be able to overcome such thinking, but it is certainly worth a try!
My regards to you as well. In fact I believe my contributions to society are miniscule in comparison to yours. I have never provided as much employment for others as you have over such a long period of time, for one. And the satisfaction of your employees have for your contribution speaks volumes! It made me teary-eyed to read your comment. We can only hope God will help us turn this entitlement mentally we have on our hands as a nation before it’s too late.
Thanks for you comments and encouragement.
Get a room!
My, what a great contribution to an intelligent exchange! No wonder that the communications on this thread have devolved to gutteral instincts! You are clearly not worthy of further communication!
Intelligent?
I can say more with two words than some can with a book!
Which is why you are not looking too smart right now…just saying.
Thanks! I stand with the last sentence of my post to Dlbrt!
So you used a government program to pay for your college education. I take it that you are in favor of the conservative efforts to do away with other programs that are not “earned” like Social Security and Medicare you know because they are bloated welfare programs.
Amen!!
Governor Perry turned down the Medicaid expansion and the next day it was announced that 6 border patrol stations in his state will be closed!
So whats the beef?
We don’t need them anymore now that the mass Exoudus is now from the USA to Mexico in search for the jobs!
LOL
The decision to turn away the federal funds, should that be made, will be the most fateful in this governors tenure. To leave tens of thousands without care or coverage strictly on ideology will be harshly judged. We ALL know someone who has delayed care due to lack of coverage, only to end up sicker and needing even more costly care, often at our mutual expense.
LePage is going to make Mainers more free by making them suffer through disease alone and without support.
Cutting spending is not what LePage is all about, or this would be a no-brainer.
“Tens of thousands without care or coverage”? Before you know it, the new exaggeration will be “hundreds of thousands without care of coverage”. But Maine’s population is only about 1.2 million. Go figure and try to come up with real time information.
Twenty one thousand people means tens of thousands. No exaggeration. This was in the BDN just today.
This is about as real time as info get neighbor.
Sorry this conflicts with your rhetoric.
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/07/11/politics/health-ruling-interpretation-puts-feds-at-odds-with-lepages-planned-mainecare-cuts/
I don’t think you’ve been reading the comments from the beginning where a poster falsely stated that tens of thousands of Mainers would die because of lack of healthcare. I don’t know of anyone in Maine who has been refused healthcare itself, and I doubt this will happen. More explicitly the figure you cited represents the number of people in Maine whose Medicaid coverage is expected to be “affected”. This doesn’t mean they will be refused healthcare. The article doesn’t even explain how these people will be affected, yet one poster after another is drawing all kinds of baseless conclusions from this.
Good post! And besides, since when is the BDN a reliable, unbiased source of information?
Since when is LePage?
baseless conclusions?
Like Death Panels?
Lepage hates mainers and only wants to protect canadians and the summer people from Florida.
Maine: a you-owe-me state (of mind!)
We could save millions more by lowering our eligibility requirements to meet the Obamatax requirement. This will be my advice to the Gov when next we meet.
Does anyone know what the food budget is for the Blaine House? (I am not trying to be sarcastic)
Not to mention we pay for meals to be prepared for them.
Your sympathies are in the right place. However, I think that the president pays for the chef that prepares the first families meals.
— It’s outta sight!
How about some facts please. We could compare them to the White House. and Michelle’s long flights. Not too funny actually.
“Lepage probably will work with the Gestapo” Really…? Josh Barro’s type-o is indicative of his knowledge of Governor LePage
No “probably” about it, LePage, much like most, will “Not” work with Omomma’ Gestapo
It’s time to stop pretending this money appears out of thin air and decide more carefully where we put our group funds.
We can not continue to be all things to all people.
Yeah, like starting fake wars and keep books for the expense off the record and adding billions for these fake wars started by Bush and his Father Cheney and their Son Karl (Treason) Rove. Now I understand for which you speak:)
Are you claiming we were not attacked by terrorist based out of afghanistan and that we should have done nothing in response? Maybe you are one of those that believe we attacked ourselves.
I would much rather see my money spent defending our country than I would see it thrown away on the useless with their hands out.
Amen!!
My Governor what a big round nose you have, and too get “No new taxes” tattooed on the end of it like that musta hurt. What’s tattooed on your other end? “Kick me I’m stupid”
Good joke but you actually got the ends mixed up
Love that coffe cup shot. Who bought it for him, ALEC? Nordquist?
I’d bet it’s not coffee …… “Nordquistion” Kool Aid.
For laughs, check out what the coffe cup would read if he were left-handed.
Too funny!!
Amazing how dems are touting mandating insurance policy’s from 1100-2200 per month. Also hiring hundreds of agents to collect fines if you do not.Wait until the insurance bills start coming in on this huge tax increase.Then people will realize just how FREE this money laundering scheme by the dumocrat pickpockets really is.Remember the comments from the head crook herself .We must pass this so we know just whats in it.
Wait until the 21 tax increases built into Obamacare take effect. 12 of them are aimed at the low income. Many doctors already refuse medicare & welfare patients, as the government doesn’t pay enough. How many more will begin to refuse taking new patients? How many new doctors will be available to handle the increase in patient load? How patients many will continue to overload the emergency rooms, causing insurance premiums to rise? The only change that will be eveident is the increase in premiums & taxes to pay for all of this. The government will keep increasing taxes & lowering benefits, just like they have done with the Social Security program over the years. It was intended to help people, with a low tax on earnings & a generous payout. The Democrats changed that time & time again, increasing the tax & lowering the benefits, a matter of public record if anyone chooses to look.
oh my the horror, the horror of it all!
lol, so the Democrats were the ones to destroy Social Security? The Republicans were the champions of this socialist program? lol OK got it.
If Obamacare requires that I purchase insurance AND Obamacare taxes my paycheck for it, then Obambacare D^## sight be prepared to provide it equal to or greater than his own benefits. Other than that I protest by going self employed and will follow the professional and ethical example of our leaders on April 15th.
As before, penny wise and pound foolish. By spending a small percentage, the gains will be overwhelming.
Nice coffee cup, too bad Lepage hasn’t honored that pledge but instead has gone a spending spree with our money.
Unfortunately extends the ridiculous LePage analogy. As I’ve stated before, if this new feature makesthe IRS the “secret police” (I refuse to fall into the same mud pit), why weren’t they considered that before? A century of tax collection and now they’re the secret police? Purely politcal headline grabber. And the foot dragging on Medicaid is going to cost all of us money and him votes. Real smart, LePage (not).
What did you expect from the “Worst” Governor ever elected in Maine history. He is a SHAME to the office of Governor!
Isn’t that a “Made in China” label on that cup?
its the other way around, the cup
was made in the usa, behind it is the
made in china item
why is one ashamed to be called a maine resident
that is where this all got started if you knew the WHOLE story
Ol’ Jowls Barkley running his teeth.
That makes him a “…collaborator, nein?”
Let’s not under estimate the stupidity of our GOP leadership.