AUGUSTA ( AP) — As speaker after speaker pleaded with lawmakers to preserve Medicaid services targeted for cuts, Gov. Paul LePage defended his effort to address a projected $221 million shortfall and told news reporters Thursday he will not walk away from the problem of overspending.

His proposal to chop expenses could leave 65,000 Mainers without Medicaid coverage.

But the governor said at a news conference that a tax hike would be devastating in a weak economy and he dismissed a tax increase as a way to make up for the funding shortage projected through mid-2013.

“I’m not entertaining any more taxes,” LePage said as two legislative committees at the other end of the State House listened for a second day to lines of advocates and people who would be affected by the funding cuts. Hearings conclude today.

Under the proposals, coverage would be repealed for childless adults, and 19- and 20-year-olds. Coverage for chiropractic, dental, occupational and physical therapy, podiatry, sexually transmitted disease clinics and some other services would be gone. There would be more use of generic drugs, and reduced payments for hospital services. A major chunk, $60 million, would be saved by eliminating the use of Medicaid funds to pay for housing.

Shawn Yardley, director of Bangor’s Health and Community Services, told the Appropriations and the Health and Human Services committees that the cuts would “fundamentally alter the safety net” for people using Medicaid services and warned they would fill shelters and the state’s Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in the city beyond capacity.

Referring to comments by the governor that the state cannot “kick the can down the road,” Yardley said the cuts “are kicking people down the road — at a greater cost.”

The administration has dismissed oft-repeated warnings that a cutback in services will fill hospital emergency rooms and shift costs.