AUGUSTA — On mostly party-line votes, a package of bills offered by Republican Gov. Paul LePage meant to reel in misuse of electronic benefit cards was rejected Wednesday by a legislative committee. The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee watered down two of the proposals, changing them to legislative resolves directing the Maine Department of […]
welfare
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Senate passes bill to cancel welfare consultant’s contract
AUGUSTA — Maine’s Senate has approved a measure to cancel Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration’s contract with a consultant examining its Medicaid program. The Senate backed the bill with a 21-14 vote Wednesday. The bill eliminating the contract with the Alexander Group, led by the former welfare chief of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, was endorsed […]
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Maine committee reviews bills aimed at welfare fraud and abuse; told to save Parents as Scholars Program
AUGUSTA — Ask Heidi Hart about a state program that helped lift her and her daughter out of poverty and Hart will tell you the Parents as Scholars Program was essential to changing her life and the lives of hundreds of other Maine families. Hart, now a lawyer, urged lawmakers Tuesday to reject a proposal […]
Posted inMaine
LePage lays out Maine welfare reform plan, EBT card limits
AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage on Monday unveiled a set of four bills that would place more restrictions on how welfare benefits can be used in Maine. Among the reforms LePage is proposing are ones that would require the recipient’s photograph on a state-issued Electronic Benefit Card, one requiring a work search before applying […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Federal report details Maine’s efforts to root out Medicaid fraud
Maine investigations of Medicaid fraud resulted in nearly $7.5 million in recoveries in fiscal year 2013, according to new federal data. Nearly all of that money, which includes funds due to the federal government, was owed by drug makers to settle civil charges, including improper marketing of prescription medications. One of the highest-profile cases was […]
Posted inMaine
Who’s really ripping ME off?
AUGUSTA — Early last year, the national media turned its gaze to Maine and the tawdry story of a Zumba-instructor-turned-prostitute in the affluent seacoast village of Kennebunkport. The exploits of Alexis Wright, including the fact that she managed a client list of more than 100 people and often secretly videotaped her encounters with her customers, […]
Posted inMaine
Democratic lawmakers renew call for cancellation of Alexander Group contract
AUGUSTA — Democratic leaders on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Monday were again calling on Gov. Paul LePage’s administration to cancel its nearly $1 million contract with a Rhode Island-based consultant. Democrats noted, so far, the state has paid the Alexander Group $378,000 for the five-part study of the state’s welfare programs, […]
Posted inMaine
Maine DHHS seeks to steer conversation away from $1 million welfare report
AUGUSTA — Officials within the Maine Department of Health and Human Services appear to be working behind the scenes to change the public and political discussion about an expansion of Medicaid. Email messages, published by the Portland Press Herald, after they were inadvertently sent to the newspaper, suggest DHHS officials may be trying to downplay the […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine Democrats craft bill to cancel $925,000 welfare study
AUGUSTA — Democrats on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee introduced a bill Monday that would cancel a nearly $1 million contract signed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration with a controversial welfare consultant, the Alexander Group. In September 2013, the LePage administration contracted with the group, headed by former Pennsylvania and Rhode Island […]
Posted inLetters
P. Hoffman and J. Cogan: Do what is right and decent
“One cannot pick oneself up by the bootstraps when bedridden by a chronic but treatable illness.” — Marguerite Pennoyer, MD, Sun Journal column, Jan. 24. The preamble to the U.S. Constitution emphasizes the importance of “promoting the general welfare,” to preserve our freedoms and prosperity as a whole society. “Welfare” today is given a negative […]