I won’t be writing a column this week.
Not because I’m ill.
Not because I’ve been suspended for making inappropriate comments.
And not because there’s nothing going on in Maine politics worth ridiculing.
The reason I’m taking a sabbatical is the result of studying the management philosophy at the state Department of Health and Human Services. Which can be summarized as follows:
If we don’t feel like doing our jobs, we just don’t. But we get paid anyway.
In other words, the department’s leaders behave like a passive-aggressive 12-year-old with a Pokémon Go obsession and a Quaalude habit.
Consider these examples.
According to excellent reporting by the Bangor Daily News, DHHS has decided it doesn’t need the $1 million it’s been receiving annually under a five-year federal grant for a program helping teenagers and young adults with serious mental illness prepare to live independently. After two years of accepting the money, the department abruptly announced it would no longer do so, because, according to a press release from spokeswoman Samantha Edwards, “[W]e cannot create a dependency on funding that could be gone tomorrow based on federal decisions.” Instead, Edwards said, some sort of replacement would be financed with state money from an unspecified source.
It’s surprising the department has an extra million bucks lying around, since as recently as June, Paul LePage, Republican governor and genetically modified pumpkin virus, instituted a hiring freeze at DHHS, claiming there wasn’t enough cash to pay for new programs approved by the Legislature.
Oh wait, maybe LePage and DHHS commissioner Mary Mayhew plan to use savings from turning the ASPIRE program, which helps welfare recipients get jobs, over to a private operator. Having a New York nonprofit handle that task should result in savings.
Except it doesn’t. ASPIRE currently costs the state about $63 million a year (in both state and those notoriously unreliable federal funds), and that’s how much the contractor will be paid. The sole advantage is DHHS won’t have to do any heavy lifting.
Nor is that the only case of the department deciding it’s no longer going to break a sweat. According to the Bangor Daily, DHHS has increased the number of requests for proposals to privatize services from an average of 30 to 35 each year to 100 to 125. And the department didn’t even bother to seek competitive bids before a program to help at-risk parents care for their new babies was sloughed off on a politically connected nonprofit called Maine Children’s Trust to the tune of over $9 million annually.
Net savings for taxpayers?
Uh … none.
But who needs extra money. LePage and Mayhew say they’ve found between $3 million and $5 million in DHHS’s current budget to build a 21-bed facility next to Augusta’s Riverview Psychiatric Center to house patients with mental illness who’ve committed violent crimes, about which they refuse to answer questions. Running such a secretive operation would be a drag, so the department plans to farm that task out to a private company, too.
Hiring public health nurses would be an even bigger bore, but Mayhew and LePage don’t bother. The Bangor newspaper’s investigation found that nearly half the nursing positions at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention are vacant, a number that’s been steadily increasing over the past six years. That’s saving some serious dough, at least until the next outbreak of tuberculosis or influenza.
Speaking of the CDC, it hasn’t had a director since May, and, according to Mayhew, won’t have one until after the state elects a new governor in 2018. In the meantime, a couple of underlings are running the show. Fortunately, the unspent money covered the cost of fines imposed on DHHS for serious safety violations at its Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory in Augusta.
The department seems to have learned nothing from its 2013 decision to turn over coordination of a program providing transportation for Medicaid recipients to medical appointments to a private company.
That produced hundreds of complaints and cost an extra $5.4 million.
On the plus side, it made being on welfare even less attractive.
There’s probably a provocative column to be written about all that. But not by me.
I’m putting the job of reading emails sent to aldiamon@herniahill.net out to bid.
Paul LePage should live in a ghetto for awhile and live like poor people do, just so he knows what it’s like. I don’t believe his sob story about his youth. If he sold stuff on the streets in Lewiston, where did he get the money? You have to have money to sell stuff. Don’t tell me he came up with $20 somehow and turned into a huge profit! Since he refuses to expand medicaid/Mainecare, even the elderly who are under age 65 have to go without seeing a doctor, unless they can afford insurance or the doctor’s bill. And the so-called “Affordable Care”? What a joke. The premiums are probably going to rise and I don’t qualify. (Not rich enough!!!) But hey — on the bright side, when I turn 65 in a couple of years, Medicare will happily take over $100 a month, yet the Affordable Care won’t take my measly $28!!!!! Something is seriously messed up here. Maybe all the poor are supposed to drop dead. Better create a mortuary trust.
Frumpy, Being poor is a choice some people make for themselves and some help them along. Spending on welfare is out of control. It’s way beyond being a hand up and totally evolved into a handout. It has created generations of people who find it easier to sign up for it and be content to live within those means. It’s not a wealthy living but apparently it is sufficient them. They don’t have a face in front of them to thank for the handout when it comes every month, so no thank yous are given. If taxpayer welfare was eliminated totally people would still offer a helping hand UP to those in need….well at least to those who showed some real appreciation and need for it. There would be some who would get no help at all and most likely there would be a good reason for it.
“Being poor is a choice…” How ridiculous!
In order not to be poor, people need an alternative. There are thousands of students across the state who graduate from high school and college. Think of how many jobs need to be created — thousands. So what are they supposed to do? It seems to me a governor is supposed to lead a state. Well, what’s he doing about jobs? Nothing. Instead, he cuts corners or eliminates services. I think he wants to leave office in 2018 feeling proud of himself for reducing welfare spending, state spending, etc. and doesn’t care who his actions hurt. As long as he can feel smug, he will continue on this course. I hope the next governor has a higher I.Q.
I know a young woman, mother of two children who works night at the chicken farm in Turner. She works full time and has been looking for a $400 a month rent with heat because that’s all she can afford. Right now, she hops from one friend’s couch to another. I doubt if she would qualify for any aid due to the fact she works full time. But she has to buy groceries, pay for her transportation and medical care. The kids stay with dad at night while she works, but if he didn’t do that, she would have to apply for welfare.
Would you say that getting a free education from K-12 and deciding to be a class clown and not participate a choice? Dropping out a choice? Would you say that having 5 kids before the age of 25 is a choice? Would you say not using all the existing programs offered by local, state and federal governments a choice?
Being given a credit card or loan and spending it on fancy cell phones, TV’s, and cars a choice?
Would you say not bettering oneself is not a choice?
I had all those opportunities and I chose to hang out, party and learn a trade. I am poor and I have absolutely no one to blame but myself. ( I didn’t have that many children or that young ).
I could make a lot more money in another area, but I choose not to. I am poor and I have never been happier.
There are always exceptions to the rule but I would have to agree that being poor is a choice.
You know what else is a choice, DHHS director Mayhew choosing not to do her job.
If her and LePage were private sector employees accountable to a board of directors and shareholders, they would have been fired long ago.
Frumpleton,
When your friend finds 400$ a month with heat let us all know. Being poor is a choice most of the time. Being broke is a different thing and still a choice. Stay away from credit debt and you’ll be amazed how much money is left at the end of the month.
Al, why don’t you run for Governor? You seem to know everything and hate LePage.
Most people are happy to help people who need help due to no fault of their own, but not interested in helping undeserving and/or ungrateful people.
Al,
On the 1 – 10 scale how would you rate LePage ? X_____
As a tax payer I’m always on the fence, if I vote Clinton she will raise and spend more. If I vote Trump he
will also raise taxes and spend more.
So it comes down to where you are as a American citizen, on the system or rich. The tax payer will pay for the system people and will pay some of the rich peoples obligation. At least the rich pay into the
system.
I love this state and all the good hard working people. I wish Mainers would lead the way in this country
to become good, honest and leaders.
Al, what was that figure of able body males in Maine that didn’t work; I think it was around 63 %.
I know an older gentleman who worked his whole life. He was in an accident that left him incapable of doing many things… He is unable to work. He has applied for disability, but has been denied!!
I know another younger man who claims he has back issues. He is on disability! This same young man continues to play sports and many other leisurely activities, but is unable to work!!
What am I missing here?
I think LePage’s intentions are good, but welfare and its followers are so out of control now that I’m not sure it can ever be fixed?!
Thanks for sharing Billyjoebob, I enjoyed reading your note. So nice to hear somebody who knows how to Cowboy up. It’s rear to hear a person admit to any fault, and being so honest, I tip my hat to you and wish you the best.
I’ll bet you never scrubbed floors with ammonia on your hands and knees for extra cash like I have. I worked at factories, too and also at Holley Farms, Capricorn Lodge (chambermaid) It is now the Sugarloaf Academy. Even as a reporter for the New Vineyard news through the Sun Journal. I have cleaned filthy houses, too. I volunteered to take care of an elderly woman for nothing. Walked 2 miles to see her. Cleaned her home, too. Well, now my back is all messed up. No one believes anyone who claims back pain, but I have been recommended for surgery. Decided not to. So don’t tell me everyone can do stuff. And besides, I’m retired, too.