LEWISTON, Maine — Louis Bourgoin seems an unlikely symbol of the latest battle over health care spending. The 68-year-old retired shipyard worker is undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer. He lives in a state once renowned for its efforts to insure the poor, and Mainers stood to benefit even more under President Obama’s health care plan.
Then the letter from the administration of Governor Paul LePage arrived. Bourgoin and his wife were told last month they were about to lose thousands of dollars in annual Medicaid benefits starting in March.
Comments
He's a guaranteed one termer. What a knuckle head.
someone should tell the 68 year old about medicare
You get what you vote for. If the 65 year-old who works retail doesn't want medicare, so be it.
Until, of course, he ends up in an emergency room and we all end up paying for it.
Well, he was elected fair and square.
and he wont reelected fair and square....
This policy of moral desolation is no suprise to those who follow the one term adventures of tea bag Paul Lepage in the Pine Tree state. When you cast your lot with the Tea Party you need a strong gag reflex to cope with what crawls out of the pot. Paul Lepage and Mary Mayhew are a pair that will beat a full house every time. The next election cycle may not, probably will not, come fast enough to succor this poor couple and many like them. What can you say about this actuarial stalanism.
And the crazies talk about the "Obama death panels..." Here's a death panel if I ever saw one.
Glad I live in Massachusetts...wow.
same here!
This is great. We simply don't have the money to pay for other peoples' healthcare. Rely on charity, if you must, but let's all do more to take care of ourselves rather than being required to pay for our neighbor.
No Empathy for fellow humans!!! I am sure were not nourished on your mother's milk rathen on Baby formula!
Guess you were born with out the empathy gene.
I cannot fathom how any person, any politician or any citizen of this nation can be as inhumane as this. Makes me angry and sad and angry all over again. Mainers, you may have voted for this man but you deserve better.
"angry and sad" are becoming the new norms. Everyone is fair game, even the sick and dying. Our government "leaders", corporate bigs, they have all turned their backs on the sick the poor, and on any hope for a civilized America.
Let's be honest - the very people who'll suffer the most are the people who voted for this guy.
Who voted for this knucklehead???? A real man of the people.
The real crux of the issue is allowing low income people to continue to reproduce. Both Perez and Garner, cited in the article, have 4 and 3 kids, respectively. They each should have none or maybe 1 child. The rising costs for the Medicaid program is only one of the social/public policy issues with which our society must deal. We've got to get back to sensible population control, particularly among the low income. They cannot continue to reproduce so many of the next generation's low income social welfare recipients.
Ah, so you believe in eugenics? Only the wealthy should survive and reproduce? You, ghi408, must not be a true American.
Your conservative phiosophy does not allow birth control!!! You care the soul only in womb not outside!!!
Will Governor Paul LePage attend the funeral of the first victim of his veto thereby celebrating his veto? And does he think that there will be only one victim. I repeat what I've stated in my previous Comments over time about this issue of healthcare, The Affordable Care Act is a Republican healthcare plan. Gingrich, Santorum et al of the conservative wing of that party all praised it when Governor Romney helped design and pass it into law in Massachusetts. Don't take my word, Google it. I call it ObamneyCare. Not the SinglePayer Plan I liked but acceptable for regular American citizens not currently insured. Note that they all have their healthcare covered.
someone should tell the 68yr old about medicare
Someone should tell you that Medicare costs money.
Yes it does. And I, along with millions of other responsible citizens, am happy to pay for it.
the tea party knows how to inflict pain on others they are selfish nitwitts but what goes around comes around this guy will get his soon enough
Not necessarily, alas. What he deserves is too horrible to hope for.
With all due respect, dc, name calling won't solve the problem, nor will coupling ALL tea partiers as "nitwits." The key is to find the common ground in "their" cause and "our's" and then begin "selling" this. This type of approach requires heavy lifting and a willingness to listen carefully. Unfortunately, we're all too inclined to simply default to "us versus them" thinking these days. This is emotionally easy and perhaps satisfying, but yields little to nothing of value.
Upon entering office, LePage had a 36 foot wide, 11-panel mural that showed the history of labor in Maine, removed from the Dept of Labor building because "someone" said it was pro-union. He then went on to rename comference rooms that had been named after labor leaders.
This week he signed a law that made concealed carry permits private. He's been refusing to meet with the state legislature's Democratic leaders, and last month called a group of independent legislators idiots and stormed out of a meeting. A few weeks ago he said he is "afraid" of newspapers and prefers radio and TV because they don't "spin" the news. Really - he said that.
He has continually voiced his objections to the health care law, saying it will help kill people because it "rations" health care, a claim that's been repeatedly debunked. I'm pretty sure, though, that his plan to cut Medicaid will kill people, indirectly, because they won't be able to get the care and medications they need.
I'll bet that Maine voters, after seeing what happens in a low turnout election, show up next year and make this guy a one-term governor. Unless the lack of medical care has killed them off.
l'm sure this article makes good reading for the people of Massachusetts (I am from MA), highlighting just how wonderful MA is compared to Maine, but let's add some info to what you said about Lepage signing the bill to make concealed carry permit holder information unavailable to the general public- It was crafted and singed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Maine Statehouse this week because people in Maine didn't want the names of police, judges, battered women and the like who carry guns to be so readily available to others. Not that I Like LePage, because I don't, but not everything in Maine is inferior to MA. There's a lot to be said for their humble manners, better drivers, lower cost way of living and so on. Lepage won by virtue of a tight, 3 way gubernatorial election. I highly doubt he'll be reelected either.
To clear things up LePage was elected by only 38% of the vote. The other 62% of the vote was divided between a Democrat and an Independent. LePage barely beat the Independent (moderate) Cutler who received 37% of the vote. LePage was the only Tea Partier / Right Winger in the election. This wasn't a victory for LePage it was a defeat of the Democrat Libby Mitchell who refused to concede when it was obvious Eliot Cutler had her beat hands down. Mitchell ended up with 19% of the vote and stole the election for LePage. The people of Maine (except the most rabid in the Tea Party) loathe LePage and he will not win a second term.
I live in Boston these days but grew up in Maine and all of my family is from there. LePage is a disgrace.
Thanks for the clarification!
This is a great example of why we should have IRV (Instant Run-off Elections) instead of the current winner-take-all system.
the lepage administration should be changed to the PolPot regime....
An angry, loathsome little governor.
May you burn in hell Paul LePage.
Jennifer Webb's husband should be entitled to VA benefits and disability. He should run, not walk, to the nearest DAV. VFW, American Legion Service Officer and file a claim. If he doesn't, she should quit whining. Yes, Medicare does cost something but paying 20% instead of 100% kind of makes sense. As retired military, my wife and I are on Tri Care, but we still have to pay for Medicare. Still a great deal. Paul LePage is not doing the Tea Party any favors. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
I would think he probable applied and may not be eligile for one reason or another. In that we don't have all of the facts it is a bit presumptive to assume he didn't try already. As to Medicare you assume he is insured for Medicare coverage. Not everyone has the reauired quarters of coverage for that particular program. A good many self-employed people aren't insured for Medicare. You know small businessmen who play with their numbers in order to avoid paying the Medicare taxes. There are a lot more of them out there than folks realize.
I'm sorry I don't know what I was thinking it's early. The fact is being on Medicaid he would have been "required" to apply for any of those programs for which he is eligible. Medicaid is always the secondary payer if a primary can be located. In fact Medicaid will pay the monthly premium for Medicare if the client is eliglble. That being the case this individual is not eliligible for whatever reason in terms of these other programs.
I'm sure some of those who've commented will look at my "exteacher" screen name and dismiss my comments as coming from another of those who succor at the public trough. Regardless, I don't know how much longer LePage has in office, but is a recall petition not feasible? Can the legislature do nothing to neutralize his action? A governor is not a dictator; supposedly there are checks and balances in our form of government. I should think someone(s) on either side of the aisle can take action. And, this isn't meant to seem heartless, but how many of those who will be affected by his actions actually voted for him? It might be somewhat surprising if the truth be known. When you elect someone because they rant about the government as "the enemy", or promise to cut your taxes, or other such blather, you might want to think about how much you, personally, benefit from that very same government and the taxes you pay. Our deteriorating infrastructure is but one example of the "no new taxes" mantra. To cite just one example, think about the Route 1 bridge between Kittery and Portsmouth. If it had been maintained as it should have, we wouldn't be replacing it and inconveniencing thousands of people during reconstruction. And what if either or both of the other bridges between Maine and NH were to suddenly be unusable due to lack of maintenance or some sudden act of nature. Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society (Justice Oliver W. Holmes). There's no free ride. Though there are those who would lead you to believe that those who receive some sort of government benefit are getting a free ride, but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, would you?
I'm glad you're an ex teacher. Two minutes Googling "Maine recall procedures" made it clear that there is no provision for recall elections for state officials in Maine. A lot of states adopted the reforms advocated by the Progressive movement 100 years ago (initiative, referendum and recall), a lot of states, apparently including Maine, didn't. Shouldn't a teacher have been able to figure that out?
"[N]o free ride."? Are you serious? That's the entire problem. So many lazy non-working people are on the free ride program over the generations that when the lower income folks who work and contribute need help, there isn't much left for them.
Let's see whay we got here now....La-Pierre, La-Page, and the Tea Party is the party of La-Dopes.
Lepage for President! It's hard to believe there are so many crooks and heartless leaches in society who think it's their right to steal from pockets of hard working taxpayers. Those who favor endless help to the unfortunate are free to donate as much as needed of their own funds. Charity is the perfect solution. The argument this method would not raise sufficient funds is false. There is so many out there that want to help that this should not be a problem unless they themselves are cheap and hypocritical and not true to their cause.
As with one of the above, it is clear you've never benefitted from at least one public/governmendeprogrammed: education.
rsox2007- move to Florida. You'll love it there. Rick Scott has successfully dismantled almost ALL govt services, and by refusing fedral money, crippled the state's economy.
Strange, we had the money for Iraq and Afganistan conflicts, but for people in need; sorry we are out off money?
I do blame this on the voters, though.
Yes, and we have millions upon millions going to other countries! Even to countries that hate us. Obama should stop this practice and take care of the people in this country first! But like every other president before him he won't, simply because we have to pay to be their friends. A disgusting practice if there ever was one!
How cruel, so very cruel. If you must make a stand about some political belief, don't make it a choice between money and the lives of your citizens. Really, the lives of your citizens. Governor, you "win", some die. Is Vermont better off? Are you proud?
Impeachment seems appropriate. A leader's job is to protect the citizens of his country or state. They take an oath to do so. When petty politics trumps this oath and citizens are no longer protected--and even harmed--by one's political ideology, then remove him quickly.
hotdoger, TOTALLY agree!
Sorry, of course I meant Maine (not Vermont).
LePage and his ilk are simply using an immoral logic to support their argument. As we all know there are plenty of working poor. In fact they represent the majority of medicaid enrollees. Le Page is just using the "welfare state" claim as an excuse to justify his lack of morality and empathy for those less fortunate. He is a disgusting, poor excuse for a governor and for a human being. And shame on the Obama administration for signing off on his plan.
He's using the "welfare state" claim as an excuse to justify his racism. That's they whole tea party in a nutshell.
I wonder how many of these 44,000 may have actually voted for LaPage, maybe having been swept up in a lot of conservative/patriotic rheteroic, without really listening to what the clown is all about. Unforunately, much of the electorate in this country is so completely uninformed about the actual policies of the people they vote for (let's say it...dumb), and simply get swept up by easy to digests "information McNuggets", by the likes of Limbaugh, Fox "News", and guys like LaPierre. I'll bet a lot of these peope shot themselves in their own foot at the voting booth. Live and learn.
This comment has been removed.