On this last day of the legislative session, Gov. Paul LePage submitted a bill he says will provide Maine's nursing homes with the money they need to keep their doors open for the remainder of the budget cycle. But the problem for Democratic legislative leaders is that the bill would take millions from the state's Fund for a Healthy Maine that underwrites substance abuse programs. And as A.J. Higgins reports, they also think it's being proposed too late in the session.
Maine's nursing home operatros breathed a little easier after the Maine Legislature overrode Gov. Paul LePage's veto of the supplemental budget. The budget bill, along with a second nursing home bill sponsored by Lewiston Sen. Margaret Craven, will draw down more than $25 million in federal funding.
But Rick Erb, of the Maine Health Care Association, says more needs to be done. "We don't think it's enough, and we can't guarantee by any means that there will not be nursing homes close," Erb said.
Erb did not identify which nursing homes are struggling to keep their doors open, but State House discussions about nursing home assistance have frequently referenced facilities in Aroostook and Washington counties. Erb says the governor's 11th hour bill would, in part, provide about $5 million from the Fund For a Healthy Maine to assist nursing homes - and also provide additional federal matching funds.
"Essentially, it would bring the amount appropriated this year back up to what the original bill had called for, and closer to what the bipartisan study commission had requested," Erb said. "It's worth closer to $30 million - that would have a dramatic effect on Maine's nursing homes."
But majority Democrats say LePage's plan is arriving too late in the session - the final day - to be thoughtfully considered, especially when it means the money would be taken from other valuable programs. Becky Smith, represents the American Heart Association in Maine.
"They were smoking cessation, as well as programs in schools, to get to our kids before they start these unhealthy habits," Smith said. "There was money for oral health, and oral health and tobacco combined, as well some money to prevent youth from starting marijuana smoking as well."
If Rep. Peter Stuckey, a Portland Democrat, has anything to say about it, Smith has no worries. "We're not going to take it out of the Fund for A Healthy Maine," Stuckey said.
Stuckey, a member of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, says over the last four years LePage has had plenty of opportunities to help nursing homes. Instead, Stuckey says the governor and Republicans made hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts their priority when the GOP controlled the State House in 2011.
"If we would repeal or even just delay all or part of that tax cut we could find $5 million for nursing facilities, we could end the wait list right away," Stuckey said.
At air time, the Appropriations Committee was considering whether it would send the governor's bill to the floor. But Democratic leaders said they were not inclined to support the bill.