Health facilities have expressed concern that they won’t be able to maintain quality medical care for the state’s lowest-income residents without an increase in the amount of money they receive from the state.
The problem has magnified over the last year. More people enrolled in MaineCare amid the pandemic, raising questions about the sustainability of the program tasked with ensuring the most vulnerable people have access to healthcare, including those with low incomes and those who are medically needy.
“The biggest issue we have right now is getting coverage for individuals and having a sustainable model of reimbursement (from MaineCare) for those services,” said Chrissi Maguire, the president and CEO of Mount Desert Island Hospital. “It’s really abysmal.”