LEWISTON — Gov. Paul LePage will visit Central Maine Medical Center at 2 p.m. Wednesday to deliver the news that the state is making good on a $183 million debt it has owed the state’s 39 hospitals beginning in 2009.
The state payment for past services provided under MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid system, will trigger a federal matching amount, bringing the total payment to hospitals to more than $490 million.
LePage quipped that he would deliver the news “Publisher’s-Clearinghouse”-style with a giant check, but he later said he was simply glad the state was finally making good on its debt.
Paying the hospital debt has been a focal point of LePage’s administration and an issue he campaigned on in 2010, promising he would get the hospitals paid, if elected.
“It’s not a windfall; it’s paying our bills to them, but it’s putting money into the state’s economy,” LePage told the Sun Journal in an interview.
LePage will visit CMMC after an 11:15 a.m. stop at Inland Hospital in Waterville.
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- Gov. Paul LePage addresses members of the media and the public in March about his plan to use revenue from the state’s liquor business to pay $183 million the state owes to 39 hospitals. He was speaking at Roopers Beverage and Redemption on Main Street in Auburn.
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