A group backed by billionaire philanthropist George Soros has launched an effort for Maine to be the first state to ensure all elderly and disabled people have access to help with daily activities from bathing to medication management.
The proposed ballot question would increase taxes on high-earning Mainers in order to raise $310 million annually to provide such care, which would include home health aides, home repair, hospice care and transportation.
There is appetite in Maine to make the wealthy contribute more as income inequality grows nationwide, said Mike Tipping, spokesman for the liberal nonprofit Maine People’s Alliance.
“It makes a lot more sense to help people age in their home rather than ship them off to a nursing home,” he said.
The group’s campaign this month reported receiving a $350,000 boost from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Community Change Action and the Open Society Policy Center, also based in D.C., a nonprofit funded by Soros, who has long railed against income inequality. The Center for Community Change Action reported that the $150,000 it contributed to Maine’s effort came from the nonprofit linked to Soros.