Just how good is Dirigo Health?

Radical Republicans’ repeated attacks on Dirigo Health and their attempt to make health care a divisive issue is just wrong. All Mainers deserve affordable health care and Dirigo delivers.

Joining the Republicans, big insurance companies hope to pocket the $44 million which Dirigo saved them. The op-ed (BDN, Dec. 5) by Maureen Hedges, state chair of the Association of Health Insurance Agents, represents the insurance companies’ attempt to justify their greed.

However, her analysis of Dirigo is wrong, her conclusions are flawed and her argument is based on distorted facts. But most importantly she doesn’t understand the values behind Dirigo Health. Mainers embrace a sense of communal responsibility and know that together, we must provide affordable health care for all; Dirigo works toward that goal.

Let’s really look at Dirigo. Dirigo Health is Maine’s visionary, first-in-the-nation plan to make health insurance more affordable and more accessible. Dirigo currently insures more than 8,000 individuals and more than 600 small businesses. Any of these individuals and-or businesses can speak to the tremendous difference that Dirigo has made for them, their employees and their families. Those opposed to Dirigo ignore individuals and instead employ numbers and percentages, derived from studies they themselves subsidize. Legislative Democrats understand individuals’ stories and they listen when people speak.

Big insurance companies and their Republican supporters focus on the size of industry profits, not how health care affects individuals. Hedges disregards the sole proprietor who saves $400 a month; she overlooks the small business person who can now afford to provide their employees with health care. Essentially, radical Republicans and their supporters ignore hard-working Mainers and don’t hear or acknowledge the voices of the people Dirigo has assisted.

Let’s look at an individual’s story. Take the woman who lives in the Midcoast region of Maine; as a sole proprietor on the open market she was paying $795 a month for bare-bones coverage, just to have some kind of coverage. Once Dirigo became available, she signed up. Apart from saving almost $400 a month, she also receives superior care with an emphasis on preventive medicine. She, in turn, invests her savings in her small business, thereby growing her business and Maine’s economy.

Republicans and big insurance companies neglect to understand that we all pay for the uninsured, regardless. When someone goes to the emergency room and cannot pay, that cost is reflected in all of our health care premiums. Make no mistake, Dirigo helps uninsured Mainers gain health care and removes some of the costs which uninsured individuals place on insurance premiums. In other words, it saves us all money. In fact, to date Dirigo has saved insurance companies $44 million.

Clearly, those opposed to Dirigo have no plan and fail to understand the difficulties working Mainers have finding affordable reliable health care. Republicans want to destroy Dirigo and remove coverage for the 8,000 Maine families who now receive it. Greedy big insurance companies have joined with Republicans to oppose health care for working Mainers and they have nothing to replace it with. Isn’t $44 million enough savings for these insurance companies?

The majority of Dirigo’s early enrollees were either uninsured or under-insured, according to a University of Southern Maine study. “Under-insured” is simply a euphemism for high-cost, low-coverage insurance. Under-insured Mainers are often working families who pay large sums of money for nominal insurance because there was no other alternative. Now, there is an alternative. Dirigo is affordable, it’s comprehensive and it’s open to new enrollees.

Gov. Baldacci and legislative Democrats recognize that it’s wrong for working families to be uninsured or underinsured and understand

the importance of putting working Mainers first. The other side may argue about numbers and percentages but they fail to recognize the vision and sense of communal responsibility which lies at the heart of Dirigo Health.

Gov. Baldacci pledged to put working Mainers first. Dirigo represents the enactment of that promise. Providing comprehensive affordable insurance, Dirigo allows small business to prosper and ensures health care for hard-working Maine families.

Dirigo’s only liability is the constant attacks, led by greedy big insurance companies and Republicans who fail to understand the tangible positive effect that Dirigo Health has on Maine families.

Jane Cronk is a resident of Hampden.