AUGUSTA, ME – Maine is the fourth healthiest and livable state in the Union, according to the 2008 edition of Healthcare State Ratings from CQ Press. And careful planning and a wider range of people covered under the MaineCare program has placed Maine as the top of the list for the lowest rate of uninsured, low-income residents.
Yet state spending on healthcare remains lower per resident than in many states, the Maine Center for Economic Policy and Maine Equal Justice Partners say.
According to a recent report by MECEP and MEJP, MaineCare costs less and gets more for its money on a per capita basis than other Medicaid programs. Maine spent an average of $597 annually on MaineCare per state resident, compared to the New England average of $613.
“On average, Maine spends fewer state dollars per state resident on its Medicaid program than do the other New England states,” said Chris Hastedt, public policy director at MEJP. “At the same time, MaineCare delivers a wider range of quality services to our people than is true in many other states. In other words, by making use of federal matching dollars available through Medicaid, Maine is getting more, but spending less.”
According to the report, “MaineCare Costs: the Real Story Behind the Numbers,” each state designs and administers its own Medicaid program within a broad federal framework, but significant cost differences exist due to a given state’s geographic location, population characteristics and the particular program design a state adopts, which is based on a series of policy choices.
Federal matching is another tool that states can use to support their state spending on Medicare and Medicaid programs. The matching is determined by a federal formula roughly based on a state’s relative economic position to other states. Maine has one of the more favorable allowances, sitting at almost 65 percent matching. And the state has maximized the value of those dollars to provide coverage, Hastedt said.
One cost-saving approach that Maine takes to help defray expenses is its systematic effort to move people with mental retardation out of large, state-funded institutions into smaller, community-based settings, while shifting funding for it into the MaineCare program. This improves standards of care and allows federal dollars to support it.
“MaineCare not only helps save state dollars by shifting state-funded services into this federally supported program,” said Ana Hicks, policy analyst with MEJP. “It helps reduce private insurance costs as well. MaineCare helps insure some very low-income people who can now receive preventative care, reducing expensive emergency room use and providing a payment source when these folks do need emergency care. This helps cost-shifting to the privately insured.”