I read “Trump’s budget ax may fall on thousands of vulnerable Mainers” (May 23) as further confirmation that Donald Trump has abandoned the very Americans he promised to devote his presidency to helping.

As Sen. Susan Collins said in this article, the president’s budget proposal will not make it through Congress as is, just as the House’s American Health Care Act will not make it through the Senate.

But we need Sen. Collins to say more than this. We need her to commit to keeping Medicaid as a guaranteed benefit and not accept a per-capita cap or block grant as a “compromise.”

This is especially critical for vulnerable residents in states like Maine that refused the Medicaid expansion (and the additional funding that would have come with it). Gov. LePage’s successful effort to cut the number of Medicaid recipients in the state also puts Maine at a disadvantage under a per-capita cap, since cap amounts would be based on a state’s current spending.

MaineCare supports over 265,000 residents. We all share the responsibility – and ultimately the benefits – of not leaving them behind, as President Trump seems willing to do.

Alison Hall

Greenville