BANGOR — Vice President JD Vance criticized Maine as one of the worst states in the country for rooting out fraud in Medicaid during a speech in Bangor on Thursday.

“What you have in Maine is a festering problem where people have been taken advantage of and they’ve been stolen from and your government hasn’t done anything about it,” Vance told a cheering capacity crowd in an airport hangar.

He called Maine “one of the worst states in the union,” when it comes to managing MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program. He laid the blame squarely at the feet of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and former President Joe Biden.

Throughout his 30-minute address, Vance repeatedly criticized Mills for what he described as her reluctance to work with the federal government to find fraud in social service programs. 

Mills has previously characterized the Trump administration’s allegations of fraud as targeting Democratic states and as an attempt to “distract from his failing agenda.”

When it comes to fraud allegations in Maine, DHHS referred one Portland area provider to the attorney general’s office late last year for investigation after finding “a credible allegation of fraud.”

In another case, a federal audit released in January identified about $46 million in improper payments for community support services for children with autism. The audit did not allege fraud but identified problems with documentation and compliance. 

Vance also used the speech as an opportunity to endorse former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who is the GOP nominee to fill the 2nd Congressional District seat.

“He did not stand for fraud when he was in state government and he will not stand for fraud in the United States House of Representatives,” Vance said.

A day earlier in Washington, Vance told reporters that he wants to work with Mills on the issue.

“We’d love to have a better conversation, better relationship and work very deliberately on this question of fraud,” he said. “Certainly, have an open hand, an open heart in this White House to working with anybody, including the governor of Maine.” 

Vance came to Maine two months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a “task force to eliminate fraud” targeting state Medicaid programs. It mentioned Minnesota, where dozens have been convicted on fraud charges totaling millions of dollars.

The order also mentioned Maine, California, Illinois, New York and Colorado, saying that “there’s strong reason to believe similar problems” exist in those states.

“Fraud and mismanagement in these programs constitutes theft of the hard-earned tax dollars from Americans paying into these programs, and of the benefits owed to Americans who need them,” the executive order states.

“As district attorney, attorney general, and as governor, I have always cracked down on fraud — often by working hand-in-hand with the federal government,” Gov. Janet Mills stated in a response to Vance’s comments. 

Mills added that her administration implemented license requirements for many Medicaid providers, “some for the first time ever, to hold them to high standards of care and accountability. And when the Federal government requested more information about how we address fraud, as the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did earlier this year, we provided a comprehensive and thorough response.”

Vance’s speech, Mills said, was meant as a distraction from what the governor called failures of the Trump administration, including the war in Iraq and “crushing costs,” including high gast prices. 

Vance said Thursday that the administration sent letters to all 50 states warning them that if they don’t “get serious about fighting fraud” the federal government will start withholding funds. 

“California, New York, Maine, Minnesota,” he said. “There probably are five or 10 states that are just impossible to work with. It’s clear they don’t want to go after the fraud.”