Maine hospitals, save for Portland-based Maine Medical Center, lost $50 million in fiscal year 2016. However, hospitals could gain $260 million annually after Maine voted to expand its Medicaid program, the Portland Press Herald reports.
Maine voters approved expanding Medicaid Tuesday under the ACA. Maine became the 32nd state to expand Medicaid, and approximately 80,000 individuals will gain health coverage under the provision.
Some hospital officials are arguing the expansion will help rural hospitals remain viable and lift hospitals' bottom lines. Of the state's 36 hospitals, 19 are losing money, according to the Maine Hospital Association. Twenty-three of those hospitals are rural.
Medicaid expansion was put on this fall's ballot by Maine Equal Justice Partners, a liberal advocacy group, after it gathered enough signatures to bring the proposal to a vote. The Nov. 7 vote follows five attempts to pass Medicaid expansion legislation under Maine's Republican Gov. Paul LePage. While the state legislature passed the legislation five times, Mr. LePage vetoed each effort and opposes the effort.