While Mainers are being inundated with commercials, endorsements, polls, etc. on behalf of the gubernatorial candidates, little attention is paid to the bread-and-butter issues and how the candidates intend to allocate our limited resources if elected.

According to the budget data on Policypedia, Maine spent a total of just under $6 billion on six spending categories (education, Medicaid, public cash assistance, corrections, transportation and other) in fiscal year 2013.

In fiscal year 2012, Maine spent 31.4 percent of its total budget for Medicaid and public cash assistance combined (Medicaid, 28.8 percent; public cash assistance, 2.6 percent). For the same period, four other New England states (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) spent an average of 25 percent on Medicaid and public cash assistance combined (Medicaid, 23.2 percent; public cash assistance, 1.8 percent).

In other words, Maine spent about 6.4 percentage points more on Medicaid and public cash assistance combined than the average spent by four other New England states. Those 6.4 points translate into roughly $384 million of Maine’s overall expenditures (hardly loose change).

Without oversimplifying the problem, Maine devotes a significant and generous portion of its financial resources to Medicaid and public cash assistance expenditures, although Maine shares similar, but not identical, climate, demographics and other human and environmental circumstances with its neighboring states.

Questions for the candidates:

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1. Can any headway be made toward more closely aligning the percentage spent by Maine on Medicaid and public cash assistance with the average spent by four other New England states in those categories?

2. If another 70,000 eligibles are added to the existing Medicaid rolls, what will be the likely effect on Maine’s other budget priorities and the economy?

Walter J. Eno

Scarborough


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