• Teenager’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation, insurance at risk

NAME: Callum O’Rourke

RESIDENCE: DayOne Residential Treatment Center, Hollis

OCCUPATION: Receiving treatment for drug and alcohol addiction

AGE: 18

STORY: O’Rourke started drinking as a young child, beginning an addiction that progressed to drugs. He has been arrested for assault, theft and motor vehicle burglary, and was sent to the Day One center to get rehabilitation treatment for his drug and alcohol abuse. Because DayOne is a private non-medical institution, it would be closed as of July 1 under the LePage budget proposal. Under the current MaineCare system, Callum would be eligible for health insurance when he turns 19 in January, but that benefit would be eliminated under the budget-balancing proposal.

• Shelter’s director says: ‘I’m tired of people blaming victims’

NAME: Dennis Marble

RESIDENCE: Bangor

OCCUPATION: Executive director, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter

AGE: 62

STORY: Marble runs a 38-bed shelter in Bangor that’s open 24 hours a day and serves 500 to 600 people each year. Less than 25 percent of his agency’s funding comes from state and federal sources, but he’s concerned that the budget cuts would hurt the homeless people who get help from the shelter. He believes that if fewer people get health insurance through MaineCare, the number of people who need shelter services will increase. He had a clear message for lawmakers: “I’m going to try to get them to consider the entire budget and not get lost in the cuts to Maine-Care,” he said. “I’ve gotten angry when I’ve heard politically driven and judgmental comments. I’m tired of people blaming victims.”

• Waldoboro woman says she’s not alone in supporting proposal

NAME: Debbie Kent

RESIDENCE: Waldoboro

OCCUPATION: Sole proprietor of a farm tractor recycling center

AGE: 55

STORY: Kent was among a small number of LePage supporters who came to the State House to express support for the proposal. She said she buys her own health insurance and doesn’t understand why state taxpayers’ money is used to provide health insurance to so many people. She said federal and state deficits have her convinced that the state can no longer afford all of the welfare programs. Wearing a “LePage for Governor” sweat shirt, Kent and others gathered in a corner of the Hall of Flags with signs to show their support. Kent said they felt outnumbered but she knows she’s not alone in her support for the proposal. “If all of these people get together, they could do amazing stuff without my tax dollars,” she said.

— From staff reports

 

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