Maine’s Republican governor is publicly laying out a proposed tax hike on hospitals to pay for voter-approved Medicaid expansion. Gov. Paul LePage’s office says Medicaid expansion will offset a tax hike by decreasing charity care and bad debt. Maine’s hospital tax rate is 2.23 percent, and Rabinowitz said Maine could go up to 6 percent. Maine Hospital Association lobbyist Jeffrey Austin previously told the Associated Press that Maine hospitals pay $100 million in annual taxes and would oppose an increase. (Associated Press)
