AUGUSTA – Republicans are making an issue out of Maine’s Dirigo Health program in some legislative races.

Flyers making reference to the program are being distributed to voters in two targeted state Senate districts in the Augusta and Auburn areas, Republican officials confirmed Tuesday. The mailings, paid for and authorized by the state GOP, also cover several House districts.

Gov. John Baldacci’s spokesman Lee Umphrey called the flyers “the traditional pre-Halloween scary misinformation campaign from the Maine Republican Party.”

Without mentioning Dirigo by name, the flyers take aim at the fledgling universal health insurance access program. They refer to work of a commission created by the Dirigo Health reform law that’s studying hospital spending and accessibility of care.

The flyers say Democrats involved in the review “have decided to play doctor with our health care” and that patients will be the losers.

Citing a “draft report” by Baldacci’s Commission to Study Maine Hospitals, the flyers also say the program risks layoffs of health care workers, closing hospitals and cutting off services to people who need them.

The Baldacci administration, which proposed Dirigo, says there’s been no draft report as cited in the flyers, and that their claims about the program’s impact are incorrect.

A draft report is scheduled to be released in late November and public hearings are to be held in December before a final report is issued, the administration said.

Bill Haggett, chairman of the Commission to Study Maine Hospitals, said the material used in the flyers was “lifted from information that I as an individual had put together and circulated to members of the committee” to foster discussion.

Haggett said the information has since been modified and no vote on any draft has been taken. He also said he tried to call Republican Senate candidate, state Rep. Julie Ann O’Brien of Augusta, to ask her to pull the ad, but was unable to reach her by phone.

The executive director of the Maine GOP, Dwayne Bickford, defended the flyers, saying, “We want to have a debate on the issues affecting the citizens.”

Dirigo has begun signing up small businesses and self-employed individuals who are to be covered as of January. Unemployed Mainers and those who work for a business that doesn’t offer insurance can join Feb. 1 with benefits effective April 1.