Dems upset about LePage firing Medicaid leader

[Crystal Clarity]

From yesterday's Morning Sentinel. Apparently R's in Augusta are afraid of facts getting in the way of their narrative


Marple canned after telling committee that Medicaid spending has decreased

AUGUSTA -- Some Democrats are upset with the LePage administration's decision to fire the state's Medicaid director, saying it sends a message to other senior staffers not to distribute facts that challenge Republican ideology.

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Anthony Marple, 63, who has overseen Maine's $2.6 billion-a-year Medicaid program for four years, was fired on Jan. 13, one day after he appeared before the Legislature's powerful Appropriations Committee.

A Democratic committee member, Rep. David Webster of Freeport, said Marple gave a presentation showing that the amount of money Maine has spent on Medicaid from its general fund has been stable or declined each year since 2006, even as enrollment has increased because of the recession.

Webster said the presentation may have surprised some of the committee's newly elected Republican members because it didn't line up with their campaign rhetoric. "It doesn't fit in with the idea of runaway spending," he said.

Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, who serves on the Health and Human Services Committee, said Marple was dismissed the next day and told to leave immediately.

...snip...

Rep. Michael Carey, D-Lewiston, who serves on the Legislature's Regulatory Reform Committee, said lawmakers depend on facts to make good decisions. He said Marple's presentation didn't fit into some Republicans' campaign stories. "The thing that concerns me is that the story is more important than the truth," he said.

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With a combination of state and federal money, MaineCare provides free medical and dental care to low-income residents. More than 300,000 Maine residents are in the program, which runs on an annual budget of about $2.6 billion. Two-thirds of that money comes from the federal government.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/dems-upset-about-lepage-firing-medicaid-leader_2011-01-28.html