Democratic lawmakers clashed with DHHS commissioner Mary Mayhew Thursday over the agency’s proposal to dramatically cut state funds for chronic disease and tobacco cessation programs. The proposal is part of Gov. Paul LePage’s budget, and reduces funding to the Fund for Healthy Maine by 70 percent.
During the public hearing, Democratic Rep. Patricia Hymanson of York told Mayhew that proposal gutted the public health program.
“What you’re doing is taking away a public fund in public health and driving it into a different place. Just to be clear,” she says.
The administration’s plan is divert Healthy Maine funding into reimbursements to providers. But opponents say treatment is less effective than prevention when dealing with smoking and chronic illness.
Overall, the governor’s budget cuts tobacco prevention and treatment from the current $7.8 million to $550,000. The budget also includes eliminating the State Obesity Program, shuttering 15 health centers across Maine and eliminating 192 positions within DHHS, including 27 jobs at the Maine Center for Disease Control.
The proposal is similar to previous efforts by the governor to defund the Fund for Healthy Maine, which the administration believes is ineffective. Previous efforts have been fiercely opposed by Democrats and a sticking point in budget negotiations.
