President Donald Trump has tapped a Maine official who battled Medicaid expansion for a position that puts her in charge of the national Medicaid program.
Mary Mayhew's role of deputy administrator and director of the U.S. Center for Medicaid and the CHIP Services will place her in charge of the federal health care program for low-income people. The agency confirmed the hire Monday.
She served as commissioner of Maine's Department of Health and Human Services for seven years, and during that time pressed for welfare reform under Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Mayhew and LePage are both strong opponents of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Mayhew was once a Democrat and lobbyist but ran for governor as a Republican. She came in third in the June primary.
