The
woman who helped wreck health care in Maine is now running Medicaid
for the country
The Trump administration
is putting the health insurance of millions of Americans in the hands of a
former Maine official best known for undermining the public health
infrastructure in her state to put low-income families at risk.
Mary Mayhew, Maine’s
former health commissioner, was tapped on Monday to run the national Medicaid
and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs. Mayhew will now
control the $350 billion budget of the two health insurance programs serving
low-income families and kids, according to the Portland Press
Herald.
If Mayhew takes the same
approach to Medicaid as she did during her time leading Maine’s Department of
Health and Human Services (DHHS), she will likely fulfill the Trump
administration’s plans of running the health insurance program into the ground
and attacking the program she is now responsible for overseeing.
Mayhew was criticized
for completely reorganizing the department in a way that harmed low-income
people and people with disabilities. During her time in office, Maine’s infant mortality
rate grew substantially and the state’s national health
ranking plummeted from 8th in the country to 23rd.
The DHHS policy changes made under Mayhew’s watch blocked thousands of vulnerable people from receiving public benefits and left developmentally disabled Mainers abused and neglected without any proper oversight by the state.
For instance, Mayhew’s
DHHS slashed the number of low-income Mainers who were able to qualify for
Medicaid by tens of thousands.
She placed a number of barriers on food vouchers and welfare funds, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), that reduced the number of people who received those benefits, according to the Bangor Daily News.
This includes limiting the time a person can receive TANF benefits to 60 months over the course of a lifetime and banning people who don’t have kids or don’t own $5,000 worth of assets from receiving food stamps.
She placed a number of barriers on food vouchers and welfare funds, known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), that reduced the number of people who received those benefits, according to the Bangor Daily News.
This includes limiting the time a person can receive TANF benefits to 60 months over the course of a lifetime and banning people who don’t have kids or don’t own $5,000 worth of assets from receiving food stamps.
Mayhew once sparred with
Congress over the state’s inability to place photo IDs on
Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which she says would cut back on
welfare fraud but in reality threaten to discourage
participation in the program.
Mayhew’s office
knowingly broke the law by moving $13.4 million in federal welfare funds
earmarked by Congress for low-income children and families into a budget that
funds in-home care for seniors and Meals on Wheels, according to the
Bangor Daily News.
After the newspaper started asking questions about the welfare funds, the state agency moved the funds into its proper federal grant account.
Under Mayhew, DHHS also did not spend much of the TANF grants it had received from the federal government to assist vulnerable families — accumulating an estimated $150 million in unspent welfare funds by 2016.
After the newspaper started asking questions about the welfare funds, the state agency moved the funds into its proper federal grant account.
Under Mayhew, DHHS also did not spend much of the TANF grants it had received from the federal government to assist vulnerable families — accumulating an estimated $150 million in unspent welfare funds by 2016.
After she took office,
the state-run Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta lost its federal
certification in 2013 after the Centers for Medicaid and
Medicare Services found the hospital violated federal standards, including
using restraints and tasers on patients. The hospital has still not been
re-certified, the newspaper reported.
And under Mayhew’s
watch, a federal audit found the agency did not follow
state regulations by failing to
investigate the deaths of 133 people with developmental
disabilities between January 2013 and June 2015.
The Trump administration
has already been trying to undercut the Medicaid program that Mayhew will now
run. Recently, the administration allowed some states to
impose harsh work
requirements and is weighing whether to allow questions about
illegal drug use on Medicaid applications, moves that are expected to leave
thousands without coverage.
And a new proposal would deny green cards to any immigrant that receives public benefits such as SNAP, Medicaid, or TANF funds.
And a new proposal would deny green cards to any immigrant that receives public benefits such as SNAP, Medicaid, or TANF funds.