Health care activists challenge Maine’s failure to expand Medicaid following voter approval News
Health care activists challenge Maine’s failure to expand Medicaid following voter approval

Health care activists filed a complaint [complaint, PDF] Monday against Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services for its failure to expand Medicaid after voters had approved its expansion in November.

The citizens of Maine voted in November to enact the Medicaid Expansion Act. The Act was effective on January 3, 2018, and provides that “the department shall submit a state plan amendment … ensuring MaineCare eligibility for people under 65 years of age” within 90 days of the effective date. The complaint alleges that the Commissioner for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has either “failed or refused to submit the state plan amendment.”

Health care activists are requesting that the Department submit the required state plan amendment and that the court show that the Commissioner “is under an existing statutory obligation … to submit a state plan amendment … ensuring MaineCare eligibility for people under 65 years of age who qualify for medical assistance.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

Montgomery started racially-integrated bus service after boycott

On December 21, 1956, buses in Montgomery, Alabama, started racially integrated service following federal court rulings ending on-board segregation. Bus boycott leaders Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were among the first riders under the new scheme. Learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stalin born

On December 21, 1879, Joseph Stalin was born in Gori, Georgia. In 1922, he became leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. During his time as Soviet dictator, Stalin industrialized his country, which he then led to become one of the world's two superpowers after WWII. Through his infamous purges, show trials and nationwide famines, Stalin also became responsible for millions of deaths.