Category: RadioActive

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Referendum to Expand Medicaid Coverage under the ACA: Question 2

1) In the past five years, the Maine Legislature has voted 5 times to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and five times Governor LePage has vetoed. The ACA allows states to opt in or out of the expanded coverage. 31 states have opted in.
2) On election day, November 7th, Mainers will have the opportunity to vote on referendum Question 2, to institute expanded Medicaid coverage in the state, also known as Maine Care. This would open eligibility to 70,000 Mainers. ( Those making less then $16,000 for a single person and $28,000 for a family of three).
3)Today, we look at a number of the myths and realities about Medicaid expansion. And we look at the statistics, county by county, showing the numbers of uninsured, how many would be eligible for expanded coverage, how much federal funding would be received and how many new jobs are projected under an expansion of Medicaid.

Guest: Robyn Merrill, Maine Equal Justice Partners, executive director www.mejp.org

Maine Center for Economic Policy, “Medicaid Expansion Fact Sheet”
Special to Portland Press Herald by Lisa Letourneau, MD, MPH, ” The issues are complicated, but a yes vote on Question 2 will help Maine: The reality is , Maine cannot afford not to take the opportunity to improve its health care system”
Report by Elizabeth Kilbreth,Phd, “The Real Impact of Medicaid Expansion”

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

EPA Attempts Appeal of Clean Power Plan and Penobscot Nation’s First Ambassador on Indigenous Peoples Day

Key Discussion Points:
a) This week, Trump’s EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, announced his intention to repeal an Obama climate action, called the Clean Power Plan, whose goal is to significantly cut back on climate change pollutants in the power industry, most notably carbon dioxide.
b) We look at the power of polluting industries and how their influence has increased exponentially under the Trump Administration.
c) We also speak with the Penobscot Nation’s first tribal Ambassador, Maulian Dana, about her new position and about the recent growth of Maine towns observing Indigenous Peoples Day, instead of, or in conjunction with, “Columbus Day”.

Guest:
David Doniger, Director of the Climate and Clean Air Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
www.nrdc.org/experts/david-doniger/trumps-dirty-power-plan-another-repeal-replace-scam
Maulian Dana, Penobscot Nation Ambassador

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Chief Francis on River Case Appeal and First Penobscot Ambassador and ILAP on Immigration Policy in Maine

Key Discussion Points:
a) Last week, the Penobscot Nation, and the US Departments of Justice and Interior, formally requested the First Circuit Court to review its interpretation of federal Indian Law in regards to their ruling against the Penobscot Tribe in Penobscot Nation vs Attorney General Mills.
b)We speak with Chief Kirk Francis about this new development in the River Case and about the induction of the Penobscot Nation’s first Ambassador.
c) We also speak with the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project about a number of issue affecting Maine’s immigrant population, including Governor LePage’s push back campaign against sheriff departments who have said they will not hold undocumented detainees beyond their scheduled release dates for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These requests have resulted in wrongful imprisonment suits in other parts of the country, based on fourth amendment violations.

Guests:
Chief Kirk Francis, Penobscot Nation
Susan Roche, executive director, Immigration Legal Advocacy Project. http://www.ilapmaine.org/

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.

Producer: Meredith DeFrancesco

Overview: Climate Change, Climate Policy and the Fossil Fuel Industry

-As Hurricane Maria devastates Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands, on the heels of Harvey and Irma and drought and fires consume other regions of the US, we look again at climate change, climate policy and the fossil fuel industry.
-Today, we take a broad look with the US policy director for Oil Change International, Janet Redman.
-Topics include, the Trump Administration’s stance on climate change and fossil fuel extraction, the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, the Union of Concerned Scientists new report on the quantifiable impacts of fossil fuel companies’ emissions on climate change, the varying definitions of “Clean Energy”, the Paris Climate Agreement and the disproportionate impacts of climate change on individuals and communities with the least economic resources.

Guest: Janet Redman, Oil Change International, US policy director; Associate Fellow at Institute for Policy Studies