I read that Medicaid expansion would cost Maine lots of money, but I have never read or heard that such cost would be anywhere near as large as the huge amount of money the feds promise to expand Medicaid.

Fees by hospitals and doctors are “adjusted down” by insurance carriers. Patients with no insurance coverage are billed the full “non-adjusted” fee. In my practice, I would have suffered penalties for charging “discounted” fees to low-income patients.

The uninsured get billed the most. They are hit the hardest.

Medicaid expansion would cover the many patients who make not enough money to qualify for the Affordable Care Act, which created Medicaid expansion to pay for all those patients.

I read about fear that Medicaid expansion money might be cut way back by the feds, or even stopped. If that happens, Maine then could pull out of this expansion.

The House of Representatives has voted dozens of times to get rid of Obamacare, but without Obamacare, payments of money for Medicaid expansion would stop.

At least in the meantime, however, Maine would benefit from about a million dollars per day into Maine’s economy and a healthier population with Medicaid expansion.

Roger E. Condit, MDFarmington