Maine health clinics urge state for cost-of-living increase, predicting loss of services without it
In a joint letter late last month, 17 of Maine’s community health centers urged the state health department to pay a $6.5 million cost-of-living adjustment they say is necessary to keep pace with the rising costs of delivering care.
The clinics, called federally qualified health centers, are among 20 that expected the state to pay the inflation adjustment at the beginning of July, relying on state law and two years of precedent for the annual MaineCare rate increases. They budgeted for it, and planned expenses around it.
But the Maine Department of Health and Human Services said the Legislature did not appropriate the funding, and months later the clinics are scraping by without it.
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Maine health clinics say state failed to pay nearly $6.5M cost-of-living increase
Laurie Kane-Lewis, CEO of DFD Russell Medical Centers, a group of community health clinics in Turner, Leeds and Monmouth, said the organization has held four medical positions open this year because it can’t pay for increases in the costs to provide benefits to staff.
At Community Clinical Services in Lewiston, which should have received $157,000 from the COLA, CEO Coleen Elias said in September the center would not be able to invest in equipment or recruit for open positions.
“The COLA is owed. It is needed. And it should be implemented without further delay,” the centers wrote in the Oct. 20 letter. “Retroactive payment to the July 1, 2026, effective date is necessary to fully implement the adjustment.”
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DHHS spokesperson Lindsay Hammes said Monday that the department can’t pay the cost-of-living adjustment because the Legislature did not appropriate the funding this year.
Unlike in the 2025 biennial budget, in which the Legislature appropriated funds for a 1% COLA increase to rates across all MaineCare services, Hammes said the 2026 supplemental budget only funded and directed COLAs for certain services. They did not include federally qualified health centers.
“I just think they’re playing a word game,” said Rep. Jack Ducharme, R-Madison, the ranking Republican on the appropriations committee. Ducharme says he has continued advocating for the clinics to receive the COLA, pushing DHHS for answers about why they can’t fund it out of the MaineCare Stabilization Fund, which is intended to prevent the loss of services to members when general appropriations fall short.
“To use it to implement a COLA, for whatever reason, they say that doesn’t meet that need,” he said.
The fund was sitting at more than $53 million in late September, according to MaineCare transaction data obtained by Ducharme. Officials have transferred tens of millions out of the fund to cover MaineCare cycle payments since 2025, while bringing tens of millions in from unappropriated surpluses from the general fund.
Ducharme said the department has used the fund for a number of purposes and he doesn’t see why COLAs can’t be one of them.
Hammes said total MaineCare spending on community health centers has increased by almost 50% since the beginning of 2023, largely due to rate increases.
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Hannah Kaufman covers health and access to care in central and western Maine. She is on the first health reporting team at the Maine Trust for Local News, looking at state and federal changes through the. More by Hannah Kaufman
