Mary Mayhew will be bad for Florida’s health — very bad | Opinion

Americans want more access to healthcare, not less. They also want their public officials to represent their interests and abide by the law, not do the bidding of extremists and engage in shady dealings.

Floridians share these values and are willing to stand up against anyone who might threaten their access to healthcare or the integrity of their public institutions. That’s why you should be concerned about Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent appointment of Mary Mayhew to lead the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

The agency’s mission is, “Better healthcare for all Floridians.” Mayhew’s record as Maine’s Commissioner of Health and Human Services proves she does not support that mission.

From 2011 through 2017, Mayhew ran our state’s health agency. Her tenure was marked by a commitment to ideology over all else, even when it conflicted with the law or hurt Maine’s residents. It resulted in the systematic dismantling of programs designed to protect the most vulnerable among us, including children, seniors and individuals with disabilities. These actions harmed people all across Maine and will have lasting consequences.

While opioid-related deaths, drug-affected babies and infant mortality rates were rising, Mayhew cut crucial funding for addiction treatment, reduced healthcare coverage and undermined Maine’s public health nursing system. In fact, Mayhew tried to eliminate public health nursing services in Maine. This wasn’t just wrong; it was irresponsible and dangerous.

Under Mayhew’s tenure, 133 people died because the state failed to have a system in place to ensure the health, welfare and safety of people with developmental disabilities, according to a 2017 audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

Meanwhile, a state psychiatric hospital was decertified by the federal government because of patient care and safety concerns, including the inappropriate use of tasers and handcuffs by security officers.

These examples should be enough to raise serious questions about Mayhew’s fitness to lead AHCA. But even without them, Mayhew’s refusal to expand the state’s Medicaid program should be disqualifying.

Starting in 2013, the Maine Legislature passed legislation to expand access to healthcare for more than 70,000 Mainers five times. Mayhew and the governor who appointed her, Paul LePage, did everything they could to block these efforts.

Instead of improving access to healthcare, Mayhew stripped people of their coverage. Under her watch, more than 50,000 vulnerable people lost their healthcare and Maine was the only state to see a drop in the percentage of children with health coverage between 2010 and 2015.

Despite overwhelming research and evidence that demonstrate the benefits of expanding Medicaid, Mayhew continued to peddle spin and misinformation.

In 2016, Mainers took matters into their own hands, collecting signatures to put the question directly to voters as a ballot initiative. In 2017, Maine voters enacted the law to expand Medicaid access to more than 70,000 vulnerable people.

Mayhew departed state government to make an unsuccessful run for governor last year. Since then, Maine has been left picking up the pieces. She left the state’s Department of Health and Human Services in shambles, unable to perform its most basic functions. An editorial from the Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest newspaper, said that under Mayhew, “The lives of the poorest, most vulnerable Mainers got worse, as hunger, poor health and poverty rose relative to the rest of the region and country.”

Florida lawmakers should consider Maine as a cautionary tale as they decide whether to hand the healthcare reins to Mayhew. The damage she could do would unnecessarily put the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of Floridians at risk.

If Mayhew is allowed to bring her extreme brand of dysfunction and mismanagement to Florida, residents can expect the same disregard for healthcare needs and the law that Mainers saw for seven years. Her appointment would be a step toward dismantling healthcare, not promoting it.

State Sen. Brownie Carson is serving his second term in the Maine Legislature.

This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 5:01 PM.