Health care deliberations hit late snag

AUGUSTA – Progress on a universal health care bill hit a last-minute snarl Monday as minority Republicans advanced their own ideas on how Maine’s proposed Dirigo program should look.

A special committee studying the issue was poised to complete work on the package when Republican Sen. Karl Turner of Cumberland read an 11-point list of proposed changes.

The GOP changes reflect “differences in philosophy,” Assistant Senate Minority Leader Chandler Woodcock explained later.

Republicans, who see the Democratic proposal as an expansion of Medicaid, want a program that expands insurance help to those who already have policies or are paying too much in premiums, the Farmington Republican said.

Joe Ditre, executive director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care, saw the GOP proposal as an attempt to torpedo the plan his group favors.

“In my mind, it’s a poison pill,” said Ditre.

Committee members called a recess as they tried to determine their next step in reporting out what will be one of the most important bills of the 2003 session. The session is expected to end within a few days.

Woodcock said the Republicans may report out their own health bill.

As approved by the health care committee’s 9-5 vote Friday, the Dirigo plan would ensure all Mainers have access to health coverage in five years.

It would expand MaineCare, the state’s former Medicaid program, and make eligible individuals, families, small businesses with under 50 employees and self-employed Mainers eligible for subsidies based on ability to pay.

The plan, as approved by the Democratic majority, also includes a number of cost-containment provisions, including voluntary caps on cost and operating margins of insurers, hospitals and providers.