I want to share what has happened to my 34-year-old daughter and her husband since they were dropped from MaineCare in June.

My daughter and her husband are disabled and on Medicare. They are both cursed with mental illness, and my daughter is mostly immobile because of a herniated disc. She now needs surgery to allow her to move without pain.

Due to Gov. LePage’s policy change in Medicaid/MaineCare, my daughter and her husband miss qualifying by $200. Her husband found a job he loves, working 10 to 20 hours a week at $8.20 an hour, helping customers load products into their vehicles.

As the governor has said, we need to encourage people to work. How does that make sense when the health care system encourages her husband to terminate his job in order to qualify for MaineCare? My daughter does not qualify for Medigap insurance. Nor can she apply through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

What has my daughter done to deserve being treated like a Third World citizen? We need to assist and that’s that, until the MaineCare expansion is allowed and in law.

Because of the governor’s attitude toward the poor, we are forced to continue supporting our daughter when she would certainly prefer to support herself someday.

I have served my country well, 24 years in the Air Force, spending time isolated from my family (three years). Is this the way our state government and Gov. LePage are leading the way for our citizens to become independent?

Will we help our daughter? Yes, as much as we can.

George Duranleau

retired Air Force master sergeant

North Waterboro

 

 

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