LePage's First Veto: A Giant Middle Finger to Everyone Around Him

            In a surprising move, Maine governor Paul LePage vetoed a health insurance bill that passed unanimously in the State Legislature. This puts the House Republicans in a precarious position. They will have to choose between either overriding a fellow Republican in LePage or changing their votes on the insurance bill. LePage’s veto came last Thursday, and by House rules the vote for overriding the governor’s veto must come within one week, so they have until tomorrow to make their decision.

            What’s interesting in LePage’s veto is not the fact that he wants to make it more difficult for the private sector to prosper (this bill is designed to prevent insurance companies from giving the best contracts – the “most favored nation” status – to the larger hospitals over smaller practices. This is essentially price fixing the market so that anyone in the private sector will lose). The real issue at hand is that LePage didn’t notify a single person about the veto. It was a total shock to everyone in the Maine State House, especially the Republicans who have now been put on the spot. This will be a test of their loyalty to authority or loyalty to the people.

            Republican Representative and Financial Services Committee Chair Wesley Richardson expressed his frustration with LePage’s veto.

 “It’s a good bill,” he said. “I am shocked the governor vetoed that bill and never notified anybody until it was on the House calendar today.”

If the House and its Republicans choose to override LePage’s veto, they would need at least a two-thirds majority in the House to send the bill to the State Senate where another two-thirds majority would be needed to officially override LePage’s first veto in office. LePage vetoed the bill without listening to private doctors and therapists who wanted to make their case for the bill. If the veto stands, the independent practices will surely find it more difficult to survive in an already trying time; many doctors have already had to close their private practices and work for bigger hospitals, as well as physical and occupational therapists in private practice are losing their jobs. This will undoubtedly put a bigger strain on the bigger hospitals services, and cause cost increases that LePage has clearly not considered. LePage seems more concerned with how he can best help lobbyists and big insurance companies than with jobs in Maine. In the simplest language, Lepage wants to keep the status quo, rather than permit the bipartisanship that occurred in the Maine State Legislature.

Business as usual in Augusta.