Maine
Maine health care providers warn of service cuts due to budget stalemate
AUGUSTA, Maine — Hospitals and health care providers are feeling pressure after the Legislature once again failed Tuesday night to pass a short-term budget that fills a $118 million MaineCare shortfall.
The State House dysfunction could cost Mount Desert Island Hospital up to $50,000 a week due to the state now delaying and capping payments from its Medicaid program amid lawmakers not yet passing a supplemental budget to immediately fill the funding gap.
“It will erode services,” MDI Hospital CEO Christina Maguire said Wednesday, describing how the hospital that also covers outer islands and parts of Hancock County will struggle to pay bills and hire staff amid budget delays.
Millinocket Regional Hospital CEO Robert Peterson said payment reductions will make it “increasingly difficult to cover our normal expenses in a timely manner” and noted the budget stalemate delays the state in paying his hospital a “large” settlement following an annual audit.
“It is imperative that our rural Maine hospitals remain viable and available to our residents,” Peterson said. “To risk failure of these hospitals due to a state budget shortfall is abhorrent.”
The dire sentiments came after Senate Republicans opposed Tuesday night a short-term budget that otherwise had bipartisan support in the House to fill a $118 million MaineCare gap and give $2 million to fight spruce budworm infestations. Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, has called her chamber back Thursday to reconsider the plan.
But it was unclear on Wednesday whether anything had changed to resolve the stalemate. Democrats can pass the measure by a simple majority, but it would not go into effect until June without two more votes from Republican senators.
Daughtry, Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, and House leaders crafted an amendment Monday that would limit General Assistance per recipient to 12 months in a 36-month period, force Gov. Janet Mills’ administration to give direct care workers a 1.95 percent cost-of-living increase lawmakers had previously approved and require a third party to study “waste, fraud and abuse” in MaineCare.
After the House overwhelmingly passed it, all Senate Republicans except for Sens. Rick Bennett of Oxford and Marianne Moore of Calais ended up opposing the short-term budget in a final vote Tuesday night. Stewart said his caucus wanted more changes to rein in MaineCare costs, such as work requirements President Donald Trump could push for at the federal level.
Stewart said he had only agreed Monday to bring the amended plan back to his members before making “very clear” to Daughtry and other Democrats on Tuesday his caucus would not support it unless it had “substantive welfare reform.” But Daughtry said Republicans “flipped” on Mainers and walked away “from a compromise that had been negotiated in good faith.”
“This brinksmanship is senseless and counterproductive,” Mills, a Democrat, said in a Wednesday statement. “Senate Republicans should honor this partisan agreement and pass this bill.”
The lack of a supplemental budget is showing up in this week’s pay cycle for MaineCare providers. The Mills administration said certain payments for critical access hospitals are now capped at 70 percent of their normal levels.
The state is also pausing all hospital claims greater than $50,000, all payments for large retail pharmacies and durable medical equipment providers and all payments for out-of-state providers. Independent pharmacies located in New Hampshire towns within 15 miles of the Maine border will continue to be paid, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
Northern Light Health Eastern Maine Medical Center President Ava Collins noted the system has already been struggling financially in recent months and said a lack of a supplemental budget costs the multi-hospital system about $6 million per month.
Rep. Jack Ducharme, R-Madison, a top appropriator who voted in favor of the short-term plan, said the latest indication on MaineCare funding is the state has enough money to last until the end of April. He acknowledged “a whole lot of fear” for health providers and said he is not sure what the Senate may do Thursday but is hopeful for a deal.
Ducharme added if Republican senators have opportunities to “get something that you want … then you should do that.”
Penobscot Community Health Center CEO Lori Dwyer, who leads Maine’s largest federally qualified health center that serves about 60,000 patients, said they will not see payment reductions until March 26. But Dwyer said PCHC does not yet know how much of a reduction it could see amid 38 percent to 40 percent of its patient revenue coming from MaineCare.
This delay and bigger cuts could force the health center with locations in Penobscot County as well as in Belfast and Jackson to reduce hours or temporarily close clinics, Dwyer added.
“This is a completely manufactured crisis that’s entirely avoidable,” Dwyer said.
BDN writers Marie Weidmayer and Michael Shepherd contributed to this story.
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This story will be updated.
The Maine Department of Transportation is moving to slash up to $400 million in projects from its agenda, a shocking and abrupt cutback that is rattling the state’s construction industry at the start of building season.
Roughly $50 million across six pavement projects have already been delayed, according to a memo exclusively obtained by the Bangor Daily News. The agency plans to cut or delay another $150 million in bridge, highway, intersection and multimodal projects later this month. A further $200 million or more in cuts are planned in the next three-year work plan.
Those figures were outlined by Transportation Commissioner Dale Doughty in the May 18 memo to Gov. Janet Mills that has since circulated widely in the transportation sector, which has been getting drip-by-drip details on the wide scope of the cuts over the past three weeks.
It comes at the beginning of the state’s relatively narrow construction season. Companies have hired workers and ordered materials for projects they expected to begin this summer. The severity of the transportation budget problems was not raised to lawmakers during the 2026 legislative session.
Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine, called the shortfall “deeply troubling” in a statement.
“We stand ready to work with policymakers, stakeholders, and industry partners to identify both immediate and long-term solutions,” Flagg said. “Maine cannot afford to fall further behind.”
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The cuts stem from a structural funding gap of at least $130 million in the state’s current work plan, according to Doughty’s memo. Losses are magnified because state money from the gas tax and other revenue sources is matched by federal funds. Lawmakers have long grappled with politically difficult long-term problems with the state’s transportation budget.
A Mills spokesperson said Wednesday morning that the administration was working on a response to questions from the BDN. The department says it needs roughly $240 million more in state capital funding annually to maintain the existing system, and that anything less than $200 million will erode it over time.
Doughty’s memo the only near-term solution is a series of bonds beginning as soon as possible. Lawmakers would have to return to Augusta to authorize that if one is going to appear on the November ballot.
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Michael Capeci is the former chairman of the Bangor GOP.
Let’s be honest about Maine’s current state.
For many families, the cost of living has become unsustainable. Housing is out of reach for many young people. Energy bills keep rising. Many small businesses are struggling under taxes and regulations that make it harder to grow. Rural hospitals are under strain and despite years of increased state spending, the results are not showing up in people’s daily lives.
Concurrently, Maine continues to lose young workers to other states. That is not a statistic, it is a warning sign.
To me, the question in this Republican primary for governor is not about slogans. It is whether we continue with a political approach that has failed to reverse these trends, or whether we nominate someone with new ideas. I think that someone is Owen McCarthy.
Owen is not a political insider. He is an entrepreneur from Patten, a small town where opportunity is not assumed, it is built. He grew up in a working-class family, became the first in his family to graduate from college graduating from the University of Maine, and founded MedRhythms, a healthcare technology company focused on neurological treatment.
He didn’t just talk about opportunity. He built it. That distinction matters, because Maine’s problem is not a lack of debate it is a lack of results. We have seen the trajectory: higher costs, slower growth, and a steady outmigration of young workers. I believe Owen McCarthy represents a break from that pattern.
His Maine 2040 plan focuses on creating 50,000 new jobs in sectors where Maine has real advantages — maritime and defense, advanced forest products, and life sciences. These are export-driven industries tied directly to Maine’s workforce, geography, and institutions. What sets Owen apart is not only what he proposes, but how he approaches governing.
He prioritizes modernizing permitting so projects do not stall. He supports using technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. He focuses on making it easier to build, hire, and expand in Maine.
That same practical mindset extends to healthcare. Expanding telehealth, strengthening EMS systems, improving provider flexibility, and shifting toward earlier intervention are not abstract reforms. They are system upgrades designed to improve access while controlling costs.
Maine voters consistently respond to competence. They reward candidates who understand problems and present plans to solve them. I believe they are tired of rhetoric that does not translate into results, and skeptical of politics that prioritizes messaging over execution.
Owen’s approach is grounded in solving the issues that shape daily life — affordability, healthcare access, job creation, and government efficiency. That is not just policy positioning. It is a governing model that speaks directly to voters.
Some will point to his lack of political experience. But I believe Maine’s core problems are not the result of insufficient political experience; they are the result of policies that have failed to deliver measurable improvement. Experience inside a broken system, by itself, is not a solution.
If Republicans want to win, this primary must be taken seriously. From my perspective, it is not about choosing a nominee for governor who can energize the base. It is about selecting someone who can compete in a broader electorate that is frustrated and looking for change.
That requires a candidate who can speak beyond the base, not by abandoning principles, but by demonstrating competence and a credible plan to address Maine’s challenges. I believe Owen McCarthy offers that combination. He represents a shift away from managed decline and toward economic execution.
This is not just another primary. It is a decision about whether Republicans position themselves to win Maine or whether they remain trapped in a cycle of repeating the same strategies and expecting different outcomes.
If Republicans want to compete for Maine’s future, they cannot afford to nominate a candidate who only motivates part of the electorate. They need someone who expands it.
I believe Owen McCarthy is that candidate.
And if the goal is to win Maine, then the choice should be unmistakable
The only notable change in the top-seven of the Varsity Maine baseball poll is that Gorham now has eight first-place votes, two more than last week. The order of the seven teams is identical. In fact, the only change in the top-seven over the past three polls is the swap at the top after Gorham’s win over South Portland on May 19.
Furthermore, Gorham, South Portland, Oxford Hills, Cheverus, Bangor, Mt. Ararat and Fryeburg have been ranked in the top seven for four straight weeks, and six of those squads have been among the top seven in every poll this spring.
Meanwhile, Scarborough is ranked for the first time since May 5, and Ellsworth and Thornton swapped spots.
The Varsity Maine baseball poll is based on games played before June 2, 2026. The top 10 teams are voted on by the Varsity Maine staff, with first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points.
1. Gorham (8) 89
2. South Portland 79
3. Oxford Hills (1) 75
4. Cheverus 55
5. Bangor 42
6. Mt. Ararat 41
7. Fryeburg Academy 30
8. Ellsworth 27
9. Thornton Academy 25
10. Scarborough 12
Also receiving votes: Washington Academy 8, Monmouth Academy 4, Cony 4, Leavitt 2, Falmouth 2.
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