Health care reform can’t wait much longer

Thanks to tough negotiating, Dirigo Health, Gov. Baldacci’s health care reform initiative, is moving forward with deliberate speed. The governor, Dirigo Health architect Trish Riley and the most vocal critics have fought hard to reach compromises. As in any successful compromise, no group is getting everything it wants. In other words, we see concrete progress – an astonishing accomplishment that presents enormous opportunity. But it’s not over yet.

The Maine Legislature finds itself at ground zero. Our legislators must hammer out whatever is necessary now – not later – to make Dirigo Health a reality. If a wide range of interest groups can do it, so can lawmakers.

Call your legislator and ask him or her not to come home from Augusta until the health care task at hand is complete. Talk to your friends and send them to www.state.me.us/governor/baldacci/healthpolicy/ index.html for information about Dirigo Health. If they disagree with some portion of the governor’s plan, ask them to speak directly to Trish Riley’s office. The number there is 624-7442 and the office is responsive. (For example, when rural hospitals voiced their fear that they would be forced to close under Dirigo Health, Riley’s office worked to produce an amendment that explicitly seeks to preserve rural hospitals.)

Wherever you go, insist that the debate abandon trash talk and get to the real battle – to make Dirigo Health work. We can’t afford bad faith or stonewalling. Disagree openly. Compromise. Negotiate. Make it happen – during this legislative session. Remember, a few days ago, some hospitals were calling Dirigo Health unworkable. Today, we have a working agreement. Don’t take no for an answer.

We can’t afford to wait much longer. Why?

Because the current health care situation is awful. You know that and I know that. The health care crisis threatens to overcome the Maine economy – that is, all of us – and nobody has come up with a framework as useful as Dirigo Health. Survival demands that the Legislature work with it.

There’s another reason we cannot and should

not delay – because access to health care has been studied and studied and the time for commissions and studies is over. During the last 10 years, in fact, almost 50 such studies have been conducted in Maine. Enough. This is no time to contemplate our navels. Let’s do something.

Let’s not let ideology defeat us, either. A recent letter in this newspaper asserted that private enterprise is in principle better than anything the governor suggests – but the private sector is already a partner in Dirigo Health and has been from the beginning. This is no time to pit government against private enterprise. They must work together, for all our sakes.

But why do we have to scurry around at the very end of this legislative session to get health care reform passed?

Because this governor is serious and he’s worked harder, faster and more thoroughly than you might have thought possible. You may think it’s surprising, even disorienting, when politicians actually deliver on their promises, but that’s what Baldacci has done. We need to respond in kind.

John Baldacci was inaugurated on Jan. 7. The next day, he appointed Riley to lead his effort in crafting a health care reform plan. Had they presented a plan in a month, the plan would have been correctly criticized as hasty. Instead, the previous studies have been examined, Legislative committees have dealt with 13 bills this session that address access to health care and costs and many of those ideas have been incorporated into Dirigo Health. Riley explicitly avoided the pitfalls, for example, of the Clinton health care proposal of the ’90s.

Meanwhile, a Health Action Team began meeting in February for the purpose of advising the governor and Riley and her staff. The team was composed of a long list of key stakeholders from the private and public sectors representing the health care industry, consumers, physicians, insurers and hospitals. (The team list contains names like Aetna, Anthem, Reddington Fairview General Hospital, Franklin Memorial Hospital, Maine Medical Association, Maine People’s Alliance, Maine State Nurses Association, Maine Equal Justice Project, Maine State Employees Association, Consumers for Affordable Health Care and Maine Small Business Alliance.)

Riley’s office and the Health Action Team spent 100 hours working on Dirigo Health. The plan was significantly altered to reflect the team’s input. Recent negotiations have continued to refine Dirigo Health in response to input.

In short, the public, the Legislature, health care professionals and private enterprise had ample notice that Dirigo Health was coming down the pike this legislative session and considerable, ongoing opportunity to engage in molding its specifics. Throwing in the towel now is not an option. Let’s tackle this thing and get it done. Together with our legislators, perhaps we can give new meaning to the phrase “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.”

Stephanie Cotsirilos is an attorney in Orono.