AUGUSTA (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage says federal dollars have flowed into Maine for years to pay for health care to Maine’s most vulnerable.

In his weekly radio address, LePage says Mainers have become accustomed to a welfare program which Democrats believe should be universal and free. But LePage says the problem with that ideology now is that those federal tax dollars are no longer being handed out and state taxpayers must make up the difference.

The governor says it’s in Maine’s best interest to introduce new ideas to the federal government that give states more flexibility in running those programs.

In the Democratic response, Rep. Emily Ann Cain acknowledges that health care costs are rising but blaming the federal government and cutting services for thousands of Mainers are not the answer to the problem.