title:  Maine’s Gov. LePage OWNED On Live Radio By Woman Who Has No Insurance Thanks To Him
text: Maine s Governor Paul LePage is a Tea Party idiot who refused Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, and all the federal funding that comes with it. The Medicaid expansion part of Obamacare was designed to help people obtain coverage who earned too little to qualify for insurance on the exchanges, but too much to qualify for Medicaid. LePage screwed over tens of thousands of Maine residents with his decision, and one woman was not going to let him get away with it if she could help it.The woman, who was identified as Laura, falls into that gap between qualifying for Obamacare and qualifying for Medicaid. She called in while LePage was being interviewed on Maine Public Radio specifically to blast him on behalf of the 60,000 Maine residents who are still without health insurance because of him: I m actually one of the people affected by the health care issue in Maine, so LePage is wrong in saying that people aren t affected or that wouldn t get the insurance. I would get the insurance if we accepted that money federally. LePage has been perpetuating the lies that no coverage gap actually exists, and that Maine wouldn t qualify for federal funds anyway because their Medicaid program accepts people with incomes of up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line. So, of course, he insulted Laura by asking her why she doesn t qualify for Medicaid. Her response was: I make too little money to be on Obamacare. It s expected that if you go to Obamacare that you re going to make a certain amount of money so you can afford the premiums. But if you make $11,500 a year To that, LePage replied that she does qualify for Medicaid, and she retorted: You don t get Medicaid unless you re pregnant, disabled or over 55. This woman is a social worker, so her job includes helping people get access to certain things, including Medicaid. Therefore, she would know this stuff far better than the oppose-Obama-at-all-costs Tea Partier that s in the Governor s Mansion there. The fact that she herself makes too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but too little for Obamacare, was the final nail in the coffin of that conversation.Here s why: LePage s office was hilariously forced to release a statement later in the day admitting that the governor was wrong about the qualifications for Medicaid and the expansion. The state, because of its law, would not qualify for the full 100 percent of federal reimbursement for the first three years, and then the 90 percent every year after that for people between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty line. It qualifies for 62 percent reimbursement there.However, for the 60,000 Maine residents who currently fall into the coverage gap, Maine would qualify for the full federal reimbursement. So Laura triumphantly destroyed LePage s own talking points on the air, forcing his office to clarify things for listeners later on.How embarrassing. We re laughing so hard it hurts.Featured image by MattGagnon. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons