Dirigo premiums costly

I was surprised at the tone and message of the Nov. 9 editorial praising Dirigo Health and a new 4 percent tax on health insurance to fund this program. The editorial accused Republicans as fearful that Dirigo will work and empower the governor. Such rhetoric is not honest.

The Baldacci administration has admitted that they have been overstating the number of people enrolled in DirigoChoice by 1,200. Apparently, 8,500 have signed up for the program but only 7,300 are still enrolled. If Dirigo was a publicly traded company, the Securities and Exchange Commission would be investigating such blatant misreporting. One in seven of the people enrolled in DirigoChoice did not even maintain coverage for one year. DirigoChoice was not a success when they were lying about enrollment.

The Baldacci administration is planning to count anyone enrolled in the Medicaid expansion as a “Dirigo” enrollee. Dirigo expanded Medicaid coverage to parents earning up to twice the poverty limit. Maine already has the largest Medicaid program in the country with more than one in five people under 65 on Medicaid. Maine is struggling to afford and manage its current Medicaid program. Now is not the time to expand Medicaid for some groups as the governor’s last budget had drastic cuts for seniors and the disabled.

Republicans have repeatedly put forward health insurance reforms proven to work in other states. Maine has some of the highest health insurance rates because we have the most costly regulations in the nation. Republicans have proposed giving Maine people the same low cost health insurance option available to those in other states. A 25- year-old male in Maine pays $496 a month for an individual health insurance plan that costs less than $130 a month in New Hampshire or Connecticut.

Dirigo does nothing to correct these costly premiums; it just uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize them.

Sen. Paul T. Davis

R-Sangerville