As the owner of Marshall Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in Machias, it is amazing to me that a utility such as Bangor Hydro is not annually audited by the state or the Public Utilities Commission. All hospitals and nursing homes in Maine, after their own financial statements are prepared, are each year desk audited by the Bureau of Medical Services for Medicaid and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for Medicare. Occasionally the bureau orders field audits on-site.

The primary purpose of these audits is to determine cost reimbursement Medicaid/Medicare rate setting. The state and federal governments have always taken the position that providers could not be trusted to furnish their own numbers through their hired accountants. The government auditors routinely throw out excessive expenses in certain categories as being unreimburseable or over “cap.” This oversight keeps providers from excessive spending and wasting dollars that are not going to be reimbursed. It seems only prudent that Bangor Hydro and Central Maine Power should be under the same type of oversight when it comes to setting rates they charge their customers.

Courtney Marshall

Machias