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Maine Children's Alliance

Children participating in MaineCare in Maine

Change Indicator

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Why This Indicator Matters

Maine is one of 17 states that did not expand access to Medicaid (called MaineCare in this state) during the months following the passage of the federal affordable care act, also known as Obama Care.
Indeed, at the state level, since 2014, Maine has placed additional restrictions on eligibility that served to reduce the number of children with MaineCare.  As of 2017, according to the Kaiser Foundation, Maine had ranked 32 of the 50 states in terms of access to Medicaid for parents.
Source, Table 3: Kaiser Family Foundation Fact Sheet States Compare Medicaid Coverage

What the data shows
The number of children with MaineCare in the years 2010-2018 was at its highest in 2012 and has declined each year since. There were 22,848 fewer children with MaineCare comparing June 2018 with June 2012. The rate of participation has also steadily declined and now stands at 45.1% statewide, compared to 50.8% in 2012.

In terms of county rates, in 2018, Piscataquis and Washington Counties are the only counties with rates above 60% at 60.5% and 64.5% respectively. The counties with the lowest rates of children with MaineCare were Cumberland (31.7%), York (35.3%), and Sagadahoc (36.7%).
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Definitions: The number and percent of individual children ages 0-18 participating in MaineCare. These data are reported by state fiscal years (SFY). Children are reported by county of residence at the end of the SFY or the end of the child's participation in the program. Note that the statewide figure for all years includes children who were non-residents, who were out-of-state, or whose residence is unknown. The numerator is the number of children who used MaineCare at any time in the fiscal year and the denominator is the number of children in Maine ages 0 -18.

Data Source: Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of MaineCare Services. 

Footnotes: For 2005-2009 and 2012-17, county/state percentages were calculated using population estimates provided by Maine's Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics. For 2010 & 2011, county/state percentages were calculated using the 2010 U.S. Census.

Updated October 2018