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TDGroupie t1_j0h5l7q wrote

Reply to comment by Shake-Spear4666 in Maine Will Have a New Minimum Wage Beginning on January 1st by Shake-Spear4666

So will this “raise” make you poorer by lifting you over the threshold to qualify for things like MaineCare?

*Edited to make this more of a question than a statement. Maybe MaineCare adjusts its thresholds accordingly to avoid this scenario? One would hope.

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fffangold t1_j0hf9bh wrote

Since the raise is based on inflation or CoL (I forget which), I would assume MaineCare and other benefits like SNAP would have thresholds raised as well. But I don't know that's the plan for sure, or if they're calculated exactly the same way.

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KenDurf t1_j0hjocc wrote

Hi, Medicaid policy wonk here. MaineCare will be 133percent of the federal poverty line as an expanded state which depends on household size. So the FPL needs to be adjusted but not at the expense of minimum wage on our state.

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TDGroupie t1_j0i1arb wrote

So if it’s based on federal guidelines and those haven’t changed then someone in Maine who’s wages go up because of this new state policy are in danger of losing their benefits if the increase eclipses the federal poverty line, right?

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KenDurf t1_j0i4fxe wrote

There is a world where someone could loose their benefits. Medicaid eligibility is notoriously behind so if you’re an individual in that situation, I’d recommend letting them locate the discrepancy.

My point was, if you put off raising minimum wage because a small subset of people would loose services, you do a different disservice. The Medicaid expansion (moving from 100 to 133 FPL) outweighs the increase in minimum wage since then.

It’s also worth noting that Medicaid expansion hoped for competitive private plans on the marketplace but in practice that hasn’t happened. So this hypothetical family where they don’t want an increase in their minimum wage pay because they’d loose benefits, should be able to purchase a federally subsidized plan off the marketplace - which they still can, it’s just expensive and worse care than Medicaid.

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nattatalie t1_j0kz6rl wrote

This is a problem with all of the programs that are based on federal income guidelines. Due to inflation and slightly higher wages many people who truly need access to things like WIC, Mainecare/Medicare, and LIHEAP, etc can’t get those services because they make too much money and the federal guidelines haven’t caught up at all.

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nattatalie t1_j0kza50 wrote

This is a problem with all of the programs that are based on federal income guidelines. Due to inflation and slightly higher wages many people who truly need access to things like WIC, Mainecare/Medicare, and LIHEAP, etc can’t get those services because they make too much money and the federal guidelines haven’t caught up at all.

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iglidante t1_j0h92vm wrote

If true, that's a nasty side effect I hadn't heard mentioned prior.

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TDGroupie t1_j0h9pxr wrote

Edited my original comment to reflect my knowledge of the situation.

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DidDunMegasploded t1_j0hb2x3 wrote

Aha...haaaaa...yeah, I doubt they'll raise MaineCare's thresholds. It's been a broken-down shit pile for years now.

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KenDurf t1_j0i5mtb wrote

Reply to your edit about Maine’s thresholds. They could do that but it would have to be state-only money. The traditional non-expansion population is covered 69.5: 30.5, federal dollars to state dollars. The expansion population was covered at a higher rate to encourage states to expand so we’re getting more like 90/10 federal to state. I was a wonk in Colorado before moving here so I’m less versed on MaineCare but expanding eligibility to cover the gap would either require a state plan adjustment, an advanced planning document, or another document to continue to ensure federal financial participation.

TLDR: to cover these people the state would need a disproportionate amount of money due to which FMAP these folks would fall into. Also, we would have to ask the feds usually.

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