Former Westbrook legislator elected to lead Maine Democratic Party
Drew Gattine will serve as chairman of the Democratic State Committee and Bev Uhlenhake, Brewer s former mayor, will co-chair the party s governing body.
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A pair of prominent Democrats, including a former Westbrook legislator who once was the focus of an angry outburst by former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, were picked Sunday to lead the Maine Democratic Party.
Drew Gattine
Chance Viles/American Journal
Former Rep. Drew Gattine, who represented Westbrook in District 34 for four terms before being term-limited out in 2020, was elected chairman of the Maine Democratic State Committee, and Bev Uhlenhake, a former mayor of Brewer, was chosen to serve as vice chair, the party said in a news release. Gattine and Uhlenahake will each serve two-year terms.
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Setting Limits on Medicaid From TennCare s end to Florida s proposed new beginning, state
Medicaid programs are working through difficult times. Sarah Harney | March 2005
The name remains. Technically speaking, there is still a TennCare. But for all intents and purposes, Tennessee s decade-old, high-profile attempt at near-universal health care is dead. Governor Phil Bredesen, a former health insurance executive, is moving to dismantle the program.
Unless a federal court rules against the proposal (advocates for TennCare recipients have filed a suit), 323,000 adults will be lopped off the rolls this spring, making TennCare look more like a run-of- the-mill Medicaid program than an innovative expansion that covered 25 percent of Tennessee s population and brought Tennessee s uninsured rate down to 10.8 percent significantly lower than the 16 percent or more in neighboring states. It also brought Tennessee to its fiscal knees, acco
Democratic state leaders around the country who planned on introducing expanded health care measures such as a public option have now been forced to delay those plans as a result of pandemic budgetary difficulties.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to significant budget shortfalls as state and local government spending has increased and revenue has plummeted. Expanding health care coverage is an increasingly tough sell as states attempt to face their budget shortfalls, Politico reported.
“The collision of budgets and Covid will make it hard to think creatively, but budget crises create opportunities,” National Academy for State Health Policy executive director Trish Riley told Politico.
POLITICO
Some states are shrinking or delaying plans for coverage expansion as they confront a challenging fiscal reality.
A registered nurse cares for a Covid-19 patient in an Intensive Care Unit. | Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Democratic state officials have big plans for expanding health insurance coverage. The problem is, their states are broke.
The pandemic brought on massive budget gaps that will likely force Democratic state officials to scale back their most ambitious coverage plans when many legislatures convene for new sessions in the coming weeks. Plans to create a state-led public option or join Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion become tougher sells when states are also confronting budget crunches that have their officials contemplating deep cuts to public services.
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