“Real Mainers frankly don’t give a damn about our political squabbling. They care about their kids, their aged parents, their disabled parents, their foster child, their patients.”

That’s Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, speaking last week about the Maine Legislature’s latest failure to pass a compromise budget with bipartisan support. Meyers is correct on this.

If the budget package currently under consideration in Augusta is passed without the required two-thirds support, its adjustments will not take effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns — in this case, that’s September.

In practical terms, this means funding for MaineCare will be delayed until that time.

As we reported at the start of February, “The proposed addition to this year’s budget is needed in part to address shortfalls for MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, because of rising health care costs and decreased support from the federal government.”

Staying out of the admittedly vexing and shoddy “political squabbling” that brought us to this point, we are calling on Maine’s lawmakers to do everything in their power to enable a two-thirds passage of the emergency measure.

Negotiation on finer elements of the biennial budget can and will take place. To double down on deadlock, in this instance, is to cause deliberate harm to our state’s residents.

In a powerful op-ed in Saturday’s Portland Press Herald, Dr. Jeffrey S. Barkin laid out the startling stakes. “The vast majority of health care facilities — the very medical agencies that support our basic health care needs — will be put into a terrible position,” Barkin wrote.

“Pharmacies will not be paid for certain medications; hospitals would be paid at a non-sustainable rate, with claims exceeding $50,000 going unpaid; and providers of all types will be profoundly and existentially financially challenged.

“This is because very few health care providers have enough cash on hand to last until September, which is half a year away. Do you?”