BELFAST – The ink on the Dirigo Health law has hardly dried, and the administrator of Waldo County General Hospital already is warning of dire consequences.

During a meeting Tuesday with the Waldo County commissioners, hospital administrator Marc Biscone outlined his fears about the ambitious health plan pushed forward by Gov. John Baldacci and approved last week by the Legislature.

Biscone cautioned that unless the law is changed, it could put many hospitals out of business at worst and cause extreme reductions in staff and services at best. Biscone further stated that the decision to adopt a health insurance program without first establishing its regulations could have fatal implications for the state’s health care system.

“I think it is going to create an horrific bureaucracy, and the details are not going to be very pleasant when they come out,” Biscone told the commissioners.

Biscone suggested that the Legislature should have spent more time ironing out the details of such an intricate and challenging problem before signing off on the plan.

“This was passed in six weeks, and it’s a massive impact on the health care of our state,” he said.

The commissioners requested the briefing because of concerns that the plan could affect health care in the county as well as the long-term health of the hospital. Waldo County General is one of the county’s largest employers.

Commission Chairman Jethro Pease agreed with Biscone’s assessment and warned that the idea of ramming groundbreaking legislation through in six weeks was a prescription for disaster. Pease noted that he had watched the Legislature do business for years and that “passing now and correcting later has never worked in the past.”

Biscone noted that the key premise of the law would be unworkable from the start. He said that holding cost increases to 3.5 percent each year would force many hospitals to cut jobs and eliminate services.

Biscone said the decision to establish a 3.5 percent ceiling came at the same time when the hospital’s professional and comprehensive general liability insurances are set to increase 43 percent starting next month and when pharmaceutical prices are increasing 9 to 11 percent. In addition, everyone with health insurance, including the hospital, will be expected to pay an additional 4 percent to fund Dirigo Health.

Those increases, coupled with the fact that the hospital will have to increase its base rates of pay by 4 to 5 percent to maintain a viable nursing staff, X-ray lab technicians and pharmacists, would force the hospital to “continue to cut services and close departments,” Biscone told the commissioners.

He noted that the hospital finished the past fiscal year with an $800,000 deficit. He said that after eliminating 16 full-time positions, closing the substance abuse counseling department and implementing several efficient operating systems, the hospital is projected to break even this year.

“I’ve run a tight financial ship down there,” Biscone told the commissioners.

Biscone noted that he had addressed his concerns in correspondence to Gov. Baldacci, but “I have never gotten a response from the governor on any of my letters.”

The hospital administrator said that 55 percent of the hospital’s revenues are provided by Medicare and another 10 percent by Medicaid. He said the Dirigo Health plan is aimed at the uninsured within the remaining 35 percent. He said that expecting the state to cover the balance would be “a hard endeavor, bold, definitely.”

Biscone said the best ways to improve the state’s health care would be to press the federal government to reimburse more for Medicare as Maine currently is 46th among the states on rate of return, institute a cap on the cost of malpractice insurance and require routine physical examinations for everyone covered by Dirigo Health. He said disease management and preventive health plans have been shown to reduce costs over time.

The thought of requiring everyone to take a physical prompted Commissioner John Hyk to reveal that he had not had an exam since leaving the Army decades ago.

“I like to stay away from doctors,” said Hyk. “I feel you’ll be healthier if you do.”

Hyk added that the health care problem had reached the point where the state had to do something. He said state government deserved an opportunity to work things out before condemning the plan outright.

“I’m hoping that it’s some kind of step in the right direction. To me so far, it’s not a disaster yet,” said Hyk.