Maine could become Obamacare's next fierce battlefield after Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday rejected the will of state voters and slammed the brakes on a plan to expand Medicaid.

LePage, hours after voters overwhelmingly approved broadening the key component of Obamacare, said he won't go forward until lawmakers fully fund the expansion. The impact of LePage's position was not immediately clear, but a court fight could loom.

Maine would become the 32nd state along with Washington, D.C., to expand the program and the first to do so through a referendum.

“Credit agencies are predicting that this fiscally irresponsible Medicaid expansion will be ruinous to Maine’s budget," LePage, a Republican who has repeatedly vetoed legislative efforts to expand the program, said in a statement. "I will not support increasing taxes on Maine families raiding the rainy day fund or reducing services to our elderly or disabled.”

Maine, with about 1.3 million people, has the nation's oldest population while being severely affected by the national opioid epidemic.

The referendum, known as "Question 2", requires the state to provide Medicaid through MaineCare for people under 65 with incomes below 138% of the official poverty line. That would add more than 70,000 people to MaineCare rolls, an increase of more than 25%.

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LePage says the plan would provide “free” health care to working-age, able-bodied adults, most of whom do not have dependents.

About 11 million people have gained coverage in the 31 states that already expanded Medicaid, with the federal government bearing the vast majority of the costs.

Mainers for Health Care, the coalition that ran the "Yes on 2" campaign, framed the expansion as a financial boon, saying it would bring more than $500 million a year in new funding into the state, help hospitals and create an estimated 6,000 jobs.

“Maine voters have made it clear: They want more people to have access to health care,” co-chair Robyn Merrill said. "Tonight is a great night for the people of Maine and our economy.”

LePage, however, blames Medicaid expansion then-governor Angus King instituted in 2002 for a $750 million debt to hospitals and massive budget shortfalls every year. He says it failed to reduce emergency room use or the number of uninsured Mainers.

That expansion, LePage says, "took resources away from our most vulnerable residents— the elderly and the intellectually and physically disabled."