The Republican megabill passed by Congress in July (HR 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) will severely impact Mainers. This bill is a massive tax giveaway to the wealthy, paid for by national cuts to health care and food assistance — including for tens of thousands of Mainers — and by shifting new costs onto state budgets. These threats to Mainers are real, but state lawmakers have options to limit the harm and fill the budget holes — and they need to seize them.
For more details on the impacts of HR 1 on the state budget and safety net programs, see the memos MECEP sent to legislators here and here.
HR 1 shifts tens of millions in costs to the state
HR 1 makes several changes that impose new costs on the state government, including:
- Requiring the state to pay a greater share of the costs to administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will cost $7 million per year
- Creating new red tape will require the state to invest in staff and IT capacity to administer and will cost at least $8 million in one-off expenses and $5 million per year in ongoing expenses
- Creating a new penalty for states depending on the share of SNAP payments deemed “improper” will cost $49 million a year — these include both under- and over-payments and errors.
- Establishing a similar penalty for “improper” Medicaid payments, created by reworking an existing provision in federal law could cost $64 million per year (Maine is not currently on course for this penalty)
HR 1 threatens food and health care for tens of thousands of Mainers
HR 1 outright disqualifies some Mainers from SNAP and Medicaid assistance and subjects others to new or expanded work-reporting requirements that could take away their assistance. Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) estimates up to 31,000 Mainers could lose MaineCare and 19,000 could lose SNAP.
Lawmakers can take steps to make these new requirements less onerous for Mainers. As well as investing in more staff and technology at DHHS, the state can expand existing workforce training programs and connect Mainers to work and training opportunities through workforce navigators (like it is already doing in the Unemployment Insurance program). Renewing the free community college program and making adults with low income eligible would provide another means for Mainers to meet the work reporting requirements while also strengthening Maine’s workforce and economy.
While replacing lost federal assistance completely with state dollars would be costly to the state, Maine lawmakers have opportunities to help some of the most vulnerable people impacted (all costs below are annual):
- Supporting Mainers at risk of homelessness would cost the state approximately $26 million for SNAP and $64 million for MaineCare
- Restoring an exemption for veterans would cost the state $3.9 million in SNAP and $2.1 million for MaineCare
- Helping young Mainers who were formerly in foster care to retain SNAP would cost $0.4 million
- Helping older Mainers (aged 55-64) without children would cost $7.1 million in SNAP and $26 million in MaineCare
- Helping Mainers with older children (age 14-17) who have traditionally been exempt from work requirements would cost $2.7 million in SNAP and $0.6 million in MaineCare
- Allowing certain New Mainers — including people seeking refuge, who have been granted asylum, and who are victims of domestic violence or human trafficking — to retain their SNAP and MaineCare access would cost $4.2 million and $29 million, respectively
Adopting all these provisions would cost the state $131 million per year (after accounting for some reduced costs due to fewer Mainers being enrolled in MaineCare).
Meeting the moment will require state lawmakers to be willing to raise additional progressive revenue. Fortunately, bills that do this have already made it partway through the legislative process. The need is clear and so are the solutions — all that is needed now is leadership and action from the legislature and governor.
Note: These estimates are based on information provided by Maine DHHS and on MECEP calculations from publicly available data. They represent current best estimates and may be subject to change as more information becomes available.