PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- With one week until the primary election, Democrats and Republicans may finally be paying close attention to their party’s candidates and the big issues.
For the Democrats, no issue seems any bigger than health care and the closely related topic of Medicaid expansion. The debate over expansion has been stirring deep partisan argument at the Statehouse for more than five years.
A Superior Court judge on Monday told the LePage administration it has to begin implementing Medicaid expansion right away by filing a plan with the federal government.
That ruling is likely to be appealed. But the fact there is a court case at all shows that Medicaid expansion has become one of the most divisive issues between the parties, and it is also a rallying cry of sorts among Democrats in this election year.
During interviews with NEWS CENTER Maine, all seven Democratic candidates for Maine governor agreed expanding Medicaid will be front and center if they become governor.
"Hopefully we will have Medicaid expansion by then," said Attorney General Janet Mills. "If not it would be the first thing I would do. There’s no reason fiscally or morally or legally why it shouldn’t."
Mills and others, including Adam Cote, said expansion would help more people battle addiction to opioid drugs.
"Gov. [Paul] LePage cites the example of Vermont in what they have done but he fails to note they have used Medicaid expansion funds to do it. So we need to accept those funds," Cote said.
Mark Eves said expanding Medicaid is just the first step toward health insurance for everyone.
"So this will help us get closer to universal health care," Eves said. "I believe in a single-payer system, and until we cover everybody we won’t be able to drive down the cost."
Universal coverage appears to be the prime issue for several other candidates as well.
"We are affording it already, and so much more than we would if we did single payer," said Diane Russell. "When you have someone paying $1,200 a month, and with a $10,000 deductible, that’s so outlandish."
Betsy Sweet agreed. "People who have insurance or allegedly have insurance are paying for profits of the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the labs, physicians, the whole bit," she said. "So we are paying for much more than health care."
Mark Dion also said the money is already being spent. "Look, we pay hospitals millions a year for what the colloquial [term] is free care," he said. "It’s not free, and probably not the most effective care because it's all in an ER – not the most effective place for health promotion strategies."
Donna Dion, however, said cost is a serious question. "But when they say we will get it done in six months to a year, it's not gonna happen," she said. "We need to have a debate. If it was something that easy, why didn’t we do it?"
The winner of the Democratic primary will likely be expected to carry the health care fight to the general election, even as the final decision on Medicaid expansion as apparently still not been made.