The official Trump just hired to run Medicaid actively worked to block its expansion in Maine

The Trump administration has hired former Maine health commissioner Mary Mayhew to run Medicaid -- despite the fact that she worked with Maine Gov. Paul LePage to block expansion of the program in her home state.

As the Portland Press Herald reports, Mayhew was an "ardent" opponent of expanding Medicaid in Maine, despite the fact that Maine voters approved the expansion by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent.

Despite the overwhelming support for the expansion ballot initiative, LePage and his administration have so far refused to go through with expanding the program.

After Mayhew left the LePage administration last year, many Medicaid expansion advocates raked her over the coals for how she handled the crisis of helping Maine residents who lack health insurance.

"Ultimately, since she has been commissioner, life has gotten a lot harder for a lot of Maine families," Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, told CentralMaine.com last year. "Her legacy is a lot more hungry children in Maine."

Mike Tipping, communications director for the Maine People’s Alliance, similarly told the publication that Mayhew's "mismanagement of the department is only matched by her cruelty."

According to CentralMaine.com, Mayhew was best known for her role in placing "work requirements for those accepting food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program... as well as changing eligibility requirements for Medicaid."