Election 2017: Maine votes to expand Medicaid and Ohio rejects drug price reduction

In a ballot referendum first, Maine voters opted to expand Medicaid after the state’s governor Paul LePage vetoed a bipartisan legislative deal at least five times, according to The Washington Post.

The referendum in Maine reflects a pushback by residents unhappy with GOP efforts to undo the Affordable Care Act, which calls for Medicaid expansion. Maine Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins has been one of a few Republicans to vote against efforts to repeal and replace ACA.

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The results in Maine could energize similar efforts in other states. Axios recommended looking for similar ballot initiatives in Idaho, Kansas and Utah.

In Ohio, a referendum that would have reduced prices to the levels that VA members pay was soundly defeated at the ballot box. The proposal’s complexity may have been its undoing. It would have prohibited state programs, such as Medicaid and state employee health plans, from paying more than what the Veterans Health Administration pays for a medication. But many had a tough time figuring out what that would look like in practice.

Although the pharma lobby to reject the ballot measure outspent supporters, even an analysis by the nonpartisan Ohio Office of Budget and Management concluded that it’s unclear how much money the proposed change would save, if any.

Even so, drug pricing ballot initiatives are being pushed by advocates in South Dakota and the District of Columbia for the November 2018 election, according to Kaiser Health News.