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Hackers last week broke into a Virginia state Web site used by pharmacists to track prescription drug abuse. They deleted records on more than 8 million patients and replaced the site's homepage with a ransom note demanding $10 million for the return of the records, according to a posting on Wikileaks.org, an online clearinghouse for leaked documents. Wikileaks reports that the Web site for the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program was defaced last week with a message claiming that the database of prescriptions had been bundled into an encrypted, password-protected file.

Reuters Health Wednesday, June 25, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Use of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins rose by 156 percent between 2000 and 2005, with spending jumping from $7.7 billion to $19.7 billion, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported on Wednesday. "The number of people purchasing statins nearly doubled when comparing 2000 and 2005, rising from 15.8 million people to 29.7 million people," the AHRQ report reads. The total number of outpatient prescriptions for statins rose from about 90 million in 2000 to nearly 174 million in 2005. Each individual spent $484 a year on average on statins...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMarch 1, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       2008 National Drug Control Policy (PDF, 6.73MB, 79 pages) THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today, my Administration is releasing our 2008 National Drug Control Strategy. This report lays out the methods we are using to combat drug abuse in America. And it highlights the hopeful progress we're making in the fight against addiction. When I took office in 2001, our country was facing a troubling rate of drug abuse, particularly among young people. Throughout America, young men and women saw their dreams disrupted...

John McCain on Saturday said he wants to again allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada as a way to bring health care costs under control. By Associated Press CANAAN, Vt. - Republican presidential contender John McCain on Saturday said he wants to again allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada as a way to bring health care costs under control.

Federal prosecutors had what looked like a solid case against Joan Jaszczult, a Bloomfield doctor accused of writing Oxycontin and Percocet prescriptions for a ring that resold the drugs on the streets for huge profits. They had secret recordings by informants and undercover agents, a line of alleged co-conspirators waiting to testify against her, and even an eye-popping motive: she needed the cash, they said, to help pay $100,000 in plastic surgery bills. But four days after the trial opened, prosecutors suffered a devastating setback. The presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler, ruled the government had improperly introduced a...

Wal-Mart boasts that its new $4 generic drug program is disrupting the market, attracting new customers to its stores and starting the nation on a road that will ultimately squeeze billions of dollars from prescription drug spending. “I was never a customer of Wal-Mart,” said Frank Ganci, 74, a retired independent contractor who lives in Ridgefield, N.J. He has no drug insurance, despite being eligible for it under Medicare, because he considers the monthly premiums too high. Mr. Ganci said he recently paid $12 for a month’s supply of three generic drugs at the Wal-Mart in Secaucus — atenolol for...

On Tuesday, Giant Eagle, Inc. announced their plan for a discounted generic prescription drug program in all of its Pennsylvania supermarket pharmacies. The offering, which will reduce the prices of more than 300 generic prescription medications, went into effect immediately. Giant Eagle's announcement came just one day after Target announced that it would expand its $4 generic prescription drug program.

(Center for Health Transformation Responds to Flawed Families USA Study) The Center for Heath Transformation responded today to what it calls a flawed Medicare prescription drug benefit study designed to scare seniors before an election. The study was issued last week by the liberal activist group Families USA. In an opinion piece, Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation and David Merritt, project director for Consumer-Driven Healthcare at the Center, refute the claims in the study. The Families USA study states that the drug benefit as currently designed endangers millions of seniors by imposing financial penalties. Gingrich and...

The Medicare Part D program has begun and people seem to be satisfied with it despite all the confusion, controversy and the political rhetoric. However, Part D does not include everybody. There are some people who will still need help purchasing medicine. For example, a 48-year-old graphic designer whose company does not offer health care coverage or a 27-year-old who is between jobs would not be eligible for Part D yet may still have a difficult time affording medicine. Fortunately for such people there is an avenue available to them. The pharmaceutical companies have programs whereby they dispense either free...

Thousands of Americans who order prescription drugs from Canada have received written notice that their medications have been seized, part of a US government crackdown on the cross-border discount trade. The increase in seizures and the strong legal warnings issued to consumers mark a shift in policy for the Bush administration, which until now has rarely acted against individuals who buy drugs from Canada. [...] Nancy Popkin, a Salem resident who has been ordering the osteoporosis treatment Fosamax from Canadian pharmacies for years, was one of those recently targeted. [...] The notice, from the Department of Homeland Security, US Customs...

Go to Morrison's RX pharmacy in Plantation for 30 Nexium gastric reflux pills, and the list price is $202. Drive two miles to Costco in Davie, and it's $131. Unlike most products, the cost of medicine can vary sharply from store to store -- sometimes double or triple the lowest price -- as a result of the nation's complex and loosely regulated drug-selling system. LocalLinks Pharmacy industry experts say many people do not realize they can save money by comparison shopping, and that they can check a state Internet site that now posts prices of the most popular drugs from...

For years, Janey Karp has battled depression and anxiety with the help of prescription drugs. Though millions of Americans do the same, Karp admits she is intensely private and can't help but feel stigmatized for needing medication to feel normal. So when the 53-year-old Palm Beach resident read the Walgreens printout attached to her prescription last week for the sleep aid Ambien, she couldn't believe her eyes. Typed in a field reserved for patient information and dated March 17, 2005, was "CrAzY!!" In another field, dated Sept. 30, 2004, it read: "She's really a psycho!!! Do not say her name...

WASHINGTON -- Medicare officials say the program's new drug benefit will cost less than expected this year, as beneficiaries gravitate to plans with lower premiums. The average premium for beneficiaries this year is about $25 a month, down from about $32 as estimated in August. The government also will see savings, said Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The reason for the reduction: Health insurers are offering lower premiums than expected, and beneficiaries, Dr. McClellan said, "are choosing the plans that offer them the best deal." Last year, Medicare actuaries projected that the drug benefit...

Spend a few minutes on the phone with Danny Frankhuizen and you come away thinking, "What a nice boy." He's thoughtful, articulate, bright. He has a good relationship with his mom, goes to church every Sunday, loves the rock band Phish and spends hours each day practicing his guitar. But once he's inside his large public Salt Lake City high school, everything seems to go wrong. He's 16, but he can't stay organized. He finishes his homework and then can't find it in his backpack. He loses focus in class, and his teachers, with 40 kids to wrangle, aren't much...

Confusion greets drug-plan sign-up Legislators, consumer groups balk at Medicare Part D By Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch Last Update: 7:29 PM ET Nov. 15, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A dizzying array of options in the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit is confusing many beneficiaries who don't have enough time to make the decision without incurring a financial penalty, a group of lawmakers charged Tuesday. U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., along with U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Pete Stark, D-Calif., announced legislation that would give Medicare beneficiaries a full year to choose a Medicare...

  For Immediate ReleaseNovember 12, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This coming Tuesday, America's Medicare beneficiaries can begin to enroll for new prescription drug coverage. This new benefit is the greatest advance in health care for seniors and Americans with disabilities since the creation of Medicare 40 years ago. In the past, Medicare would pay tens of thousands of dollars for ulcer surgery, but not a few hundred dollars for prescription drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers. In the past, Medicare would pay more than $100,000 to treat the effects of a stroke,...

I Just Read This Great New "Prescription Thriller"-Carmen Piper and the Protest. A Must Read for Any Conspiracy Theorist!

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State Aug. 18, 2005, 10:34PM Austin prohibits Walgreens from refusing to fill prescriptions By LISA FALKENBERG Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN - Texas' capital city became the first in the nation Thursday, according to Planned Parenthood, to prohibit a pharmacy from refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control, emergency contraceptives and other medications. ADVERTISEMENT The measure, approved unanimously by the Austin City Council, requires Walgreens, the city's pharmaceutical contractor, to fill prescriptions for patients on Austin's medical assistance program "in-store, without discrimination or delay," even if an individual pharmacist declines to...

President Bush signed into law a bill to create electronic monitoring programs to prevent the abuse of prescription drugs in all 50 states. The new law creates a grant program for states to create databases and enhance existing ones in hopes of ending the practice of "doctor shopping" by drug abusers seeking multiple prescriptions. It would authorize $60 million for the program through fiscal 2010. The bill, signed late Thursday at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch, was sponsored by Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Republican representing Kentucky's 1st District. Kentucky's existing electronic prescription monitoring database, called KASPER - Kentucky All Schedule...

District pharmacist Edward Watkins Jr., 62, doesn't take the prescription medicines he dispenses to others daily. Brian Ross, 41, a trained chef who is head instructor at L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, doesn't need supplementary drugs to keep his heart and weight in balance although he is surrounded at work by rich food in great quantities. A 57-year-old Capitol Hill writer relies on aspirin and vitamins rather than expensive doses of Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug given to her by her physician following an operation to insert stents into her arteries. Though their stories necessarily are anecdotal, the three are representative...

Can a dietary supplement pick up the pieces? Glucosamine, often recommended for joint pain, is one of the most popular supplements on the market. And considering the health concerns recently associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, I thought it would be worth looking into whether glucosamine lives up to the hype.Background: Glucosamine and chondroitin are often combined together and used to treat osteoarthritis (OA), which occurs when the cartilage covering the end of the bone near the joint breaks down. OA affects the knees, backs, hips, hands and feet of more than 21 million people over age 45. And, according to...

Good for whatever ails you BY DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on June 21, 1998.) Recently, I was lying on the sofa and watching my favorite TV show, which is called, ''Whatever Is on TV When I'm Lying on the Sofa.'' I was in a good mood until the commercial came on. It showed an old man (and when I say ''old man,'' I mean ''a man who is maybe eight years older than I am'') helping his grandson learn to ride a bicycle. I was watching this, wondering what product was being advertised (Bicycles?...

Medicare cost estimate soars(drugs) Net cost seen at $720 billion over 10 years By William L. Watts, MarketWatch Last Update: 11:12 AM ET Feb. 9, 2005 WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Budget figures showing that Medicare prescription drug benefit outlays will exceed $1 trillion over the next 10 years appears likely to become a lightning rod for criticism of President Bush's budget Wednesday as administration officials continued to make the rounds of key congressional committees. The White House released budget figures Tuesday that estimated the drug benefit, enacted in 2003, would cost $1.2 trillion between 2006 and 2015. That's a sharp increase...

When Congress passed landmark Medicare reforms last year, critics opposed a provision banning Americans from buying "Canadian" prescription drugs and a study of the safety and cost benefits of cross border purchasing was mandated in the legislation. For several years, healthcare policy analysts and health safety experts have produced a cacophony of powerful objections to importation based on worries about safety and pricing. Now adding to the din of serious concern comes this study from the Department of Health and Human Services produced by a respected, international expert panel that not only highlights the dangers of importation, but is likely...

Although one very prominent physician has spoken out against it, one medical society is promoting the idea of a national database to track narcotic prescriptions. The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Oct. 5, is aimed at preventing interstate "doctor-shopping" by people seeking multiple prescriptions of controlled substances. But critics, including U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, MD (R, Texas), consider it another example of government meddling in the delivery of appropriate pain medicine. "I think it's atrocious, and it so undermines medicine and the care of the dying," Dr. Paul said....

Alexander defends late party switch in 5th District debate By ADAM NOSSITER Associated Press writer MONROE -- Congressman Rodney Alexander defended a last-minute party switch that infuriated Democrats Sunday night, in the sole televised debate of an otherwise quiet race to represent a broad swath of central and north Louisiana. Alexander, boosted by polls showing him way out in front and likely to win the 5th Congressional District race without a runoff, spoke calmly about an issue that initially threw his race into an uproar, and had Democrats from Louisiana to Washington denouncing him in harsh terms. He brushed off...

Prescription drugs and health insurance will be more affordable if Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry is elected president, his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, said Thursday during a visit to Yardley. We have to talk about how we want to live," Heinz Kerry said to the 300 people wedged into the Yardley Community Centre for her visit. "We've dehumanized medicine. We've devalued preventative medicine. That's not the American way." Heinz Kerry focused mainly on her husband's plan to bring affordable health care to all Americans. She complained about the high cost of prescription drugs and blamed U.S. pharmaceutical companies for "gouging...

http://leovilletownsquare.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=News&Number=683952&page=0&fpart=all Canada shuts out vaccine seekers By GRAEME SMITH AND DAVID EBNER From Saturday's Globe and Mail Ontario and Alberta are cracking down on the growing number of Americans who are scrambling to get flu shots in Canada as the anxiety over a shortage of vaccine in the United States spreads north of the border. With half of the U.S. supply choked off by quality-control problems, clinics such as the border outpost of the Northwestern Health Unit in Fort Frances, Ont., have been getting a steady steam of calls from worried Americans. "There was even somebody from Florida wanting to...

For Immediate Release October 16, 2004 Radio Address of the President to the Nation      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Over the past four years, I have brought a straightforward approach to the presidency. I tell you what I'm going to do, and I keep my word. When I came into office four years ago, the economy was sliding into recession. Then terrorist attacks cost our nation nearly a million jobs in three months. To help families and to get this economy growing again, I pledged to reduce taxes, and I kept my word.  Radio Address 2004200320022001  Radio Interviews 2004...

Winifred Skinner doesn't wear her Tommy Hilfiger jacket anymore. She bought the jacket on sale years ago, before she retired. She wore it as she walked on the east side of Des Moines, picking up discarded soda pop and beer cans, which she redeemed for a nickel apiece, using the proceeds to help pay for her prescription drugs.

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJanuary 31, 2004 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This coming week, my administration will release our proposed budget for fiscal year 2005. In that detailed blueprint for government spending, Americans will see my priorities clearly at work. We will devote the resources necessary to win the war on terror and protect our homeland. We'll provide compassionate help to seniors, to schoolchildren, and to Americans in need of job training. And we will be responsible with the people's money by cutting the deficit in half over five years. With troops currently on...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryDecember 13, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week I was honored to sign the Medicare Act of 2003, the greatest advance in health coverage for America's seniors since Medicare was founded nearly four decades ago. This new law will give seniors better choices and more control over their health care, and provide a prescription drug benefit. Beginning in 2006, most seniors now without prescription coverage can expect to see their current drug bills cut roughly in half, in exchange for a monthly premium of about $35. And for the...

At a cost of $400 billion over 10 years, Congressional Republicans have agreed in Conference Committee—with the enthusiastic encouragement of a Republican President—to the greatest expansion of government in two generations. This new Medicare program can only result in what government supplied health care has always produced in the U.S. and elsewhere: fewer new drugs and a lot more government. Of course, after a few years in practice we all know the program will end up costing a lot more. The stated reason for the plan is to provide Americans with medicines they could not otherwise afford. The Republicans don't...

Note: This message is the first in a series about the pending Medicare prescription-drug bill. Congress will soon vote on the most far-reaching and the most costly expansion of the federal government in our nation's history when it takes up the Medicare prescription-drug bill (H.R. 1). If H.R. 1 is approved by Congress and signed by President Bush, our country will never be the same. By comparison, the proposed Medicare prescription-drug "entitlement benefit" makes FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society look like small and cheap federal programs. Tragically, many of the biggest and most costly federal programs in our...

12:30PM Daschle: Medicare bill may not get out of conference by Maggie McNeil WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said the medicare prescription drug bill taking shape in House/Senate negotiations would be unlikely to pass the narrowly divided Senate and may not even make it out of conference negotiations. Senate Democrats are objecting to efforts by House Republicans to cap future Medicare spending and to put Medicare in competition with private insurance programs beginning in 2010. Earlier, House Majority Leader Tom Delay said he remained optimistic on prospects for completing the drug bill and said that objections by...

<p>Undaunted by Justice Department attempts to shut him down, Carl Moore, president of Rx Depot Inc., vows to continue his business of linking American consumers to cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.</p> <p>Moore, a former "wildcatter" who says he has gone boom and bust in the Oklahoma oilfields, said he plans to double the company's presence in southwestern Pennsylvania by opening three more Rx Depot outlets in the region -- including sites in Mt. Lebanon and Pittsburgh International Airport.</p>

Before attending to this week's business I should like to defend myself from the machotypes who fell on me for saying in last week's column that a .30 caliber Weatherby magnum was capable of reaching a bird at 1200 yards. Allow me to quote from a memo to AmSpec's expert on the subject, my friend Chuck Fowler. Quoth: "A 165-grain bullet from a 30-378 Weatherby drops nineteen and a half inches at 500 yards. It screams out of the barrel at a blistering 3500 feet per second. I'm sure at 1200 yards it may drop twice again as much as...

<p>In the old days, miners brought canaries down into the tunnels to detect methane. The birds were more sensitive to the deadly gas and worked as an early warning system. When they died, it was time to get out. For conservatives, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, is like a canary. When he starts supporting their initiatives, they should get out.</p>

Values for SaleThe Rev. Lou Sheldon trashes pro-lifers odd Akin, Jo Ann Davis, Randy Forbes, Virgil Goode, Jim Demint, John Shadegg, Pat Toomey, Tom Tancredo: All of these congressmen had 100-percent ratings from the National Right to Life Committee for the last Congress. They have something else in common, too: They're the targets of a direct-mail campaign by the Traditional Values Coalition that questions their commitment to the unborn. That campaign has other social conservatives questioning the TVC's motives. At issue is a bill, sponsored by pro-lifers Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, that would allow...

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - Marc Snyder can't get his mind off the high cost of his prescription drugs. Thanks to a growing display outside his home, his neighbors are thinking about it, too. Photocopies of prescriptions cover upstairs windows, surround the door and fill blue plastic tarps draped over the yellow house. Snyder said they are prescriptions he could not afford to fill. A large sign declares the week-old display "The Great Wall of Prescriptions" and asks Congress for help. "It's not an eyesore," said Adrienne Reyes, who lives across the street. "It's a good way to advertise." Most of...

THE MEDICARE DRUG BILL: An Impending Disaster For All Americans The Heritage Foundation By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D. June 13, 2003 Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. With the support of the Bush Administration, or at least with the White House’s passive acquiesce, Congress appears on course to enacting a huge new entitlement aimed at middle-income Americans. President Bush likely...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJune 7, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, the House and Senate are working on one of the most important issues facing Congress: improving Medicare to offer prescription drug coverage to American seniors. And on Wednesday, I will travel to Chicago and talk about our responsibility to give seniors more choices and better benefits, including help with the rising costs of prescription drugs. We have a tremendous opportunity to reform Medicare and help our seniors. The budget I proposed, and which the Congress passed, provides $400 billion in additional...

GRETNA (AP) — A man has been booked on 160 counts of various drug offenses after authorities accused him of faking illnesses to get prescriptions for thousands of tablets of narcotics. Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies said Anthony Farrel, 48, of Metairie was a “doctor shopper” who visited several doctors and pain clinics and acquired more than 11,000 tablets of prescribed painkillers, muscle relaxants and anxiety medications. Farrel was booked on possession, distribution, fraud and theft charges. He was released from the jail Thursday. He could not be reached for comment. Investigators refused to comment further. According to an arrest report,...

Prescription drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC asked Canadian pharmacies and wholesalers yesterday to "self-certify" that they're not exporting its drugs outside Canada. Pharmacies and wholesalers that fail to comply will have their Glaxo supplies cut off. In a Jan.3 letter, the British drug maker had warned Canadian pharmacies and wholesalers that it would cut off their supplies as of yesterday if they continued to sell Glaxo products outside Canada, primarily to the U.S. "GSK's products are approved by Health Canada for sale in Canada only," Glaxo had said, adding that Canadian pharmacies could be violating the company's patent rights and risk...

Letter to the Editor, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal 'Free' Drugs Cost Taxpayers Now that the Republicans control the White House and Congress, it looks to me like we no longer will have a tax-and-spend Legislature. Tax and spend has now been replaced with borrow and spend. Republicans give lip service to the word "conservative," but once safely reelected, their spending record is similar to that of their Democratic colleagues. Case in point: proposed "free" prescription drugs for seniors being pushed by President Bush and the newly elected Republican majority leader, Bill Frist. The "free" drugs aren't "free" at all. They are going...

Ivan Illich, the sociologist and former priest who died on Monday aged 76, was a resolute opponent of institutionalisation; his controversial views on education, society, the law, medicine, and over-consumption brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church and “experts” in almost every discipline.Experts were, in fact, precisely the target of Illich’s wrath, especially in his two most influential books, Deschooling Society (1971) and Medical Nemesis (1975). The hideously-titled Celebration of Awareness took a dim view of progress. Gender (1982) pointed out that drains were not an unqualified benefit to the Third World’s women. “Tap water put an end...

Drug bill advances in Ohio SenateFriday, November 15, 2002 By PAUL E. KOSTYU Copley Columbus Bureau chief COLUMBUS — With each yes vote on the floor of the Ohio Senate on Thursday, the smile on Garry Beltz’s face got broader. After 32 of those votes, the Plain Township man pumped his fist, let out a sigh of relief and quietly said, “Yes.” Three years after his wife, Karon, died of cancer, Beltz neared the end of one crusade, while looking to begin another. When Karon Beltz died in September 1999, her husband had to throw away two weeks worth of...

WASHINGTON (AP)--Senate Republicans are pulling out wish lists that grew tattered and faded over the past 17 months and busily underlining and highlighting and prioritizing. Among their favorites: cutting taxes, approving conservative judges, and drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness. By early next year, the Republicans will once again be running it all--the White House and both chambers of Congress--as they did during President Bush's first few months in office. Ideas that seemed like pie in the sky while Democrats controlled the Senate suddenly look doable again. That does not mean it will be easy. The Senate remains closely...

Medco Study Finds Kids' Prescriptions Rising Thu Sep 19, 4:19 AM ET FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (Reuters) - Kids have surpassed senior citizens as the hot ticket in the prescription drug market. While people over 50 are the largest drug market, Medco Health said in its annual survey released on Thursday that an increasing number of children are taking prescription drugs, making them the fastest growing prescription users in 2001. Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco's chief medical officer, said more aggressive treatment and diagnosis of allergies and asthma, as well as higher cost antibiotics, have led to higher drug spending for the...

AUGUSTA — President Bush’s plan to help some senior citizens with modest incomes get assistance with paying for prescription drugs takes effect in September, but Maine has yet to apply for the waiver needed to implement the program. “We are concerned about the way it is structured,” said Kevin Concannon, commissioner of the Maine Department of Human Services. “Legislation passed in this most recent session of the Legislature directed us to seek a full Medicaid benefit for people under 185 percent of the federal poverty level, or as high as we could go.” The federal poverty level in Maine for...