Health care advocates say 417,000 Mainers will be affected if state GOP lawmakers stand in the way of emergency Medicaid funding.
At a Portland press conference Wednesday, some raised concerns that failure to pass the supplemental budget next week will jeopardize funding for hospitals, strain the state budget and prevent Mainers from receiving the care they need.
Marie Follayttar, a community organizer who said she is a survivor of a rare Leukemia, said she relies on Medicaid to survive.
"Some days I eat mashed potatoes, other days some soup, but the staple of my diet is food that Medicaid purchases for me," Follayttar said.
Follayttar said for those who rely on this funding, it's a matter of life and death.
"For when I say healthcare is at risk for 417,000 Mainers, I can tell you, one of those lives may be mine," Follayttar said.
On initial votes, the budget won majority support last week, but needs republicans on board to garner the two-thirds vote required to pass an emergency measure.
State Representative Annie Graham, a retired Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, called on her colleagues in the Maine Legislature to pass the emergency budget next week.
