Why my family chose Dirigo

In the last few weeks there have been several letters concerning the DirigoChoice program. I would like to speak to my own family’s decision to sign up for DirigoChoice.

During the 20 years I was employed in private industry, my family and I were covered by fairly comprehensive health plans through my jobs. Three years ago I lost my most recent job.

My husband was self-employed and had no coverage of his own, so we explored other options. The only options for individuals we found at the time were an HMO provided by Anthem and a high deductible option provided by MegaLife that covered fewer services. We decided we couldn’t afford the monthly drain for the HMO, and opted for the high deductible.

Several months later, the Dirigo health plan finally became a reality. My husband, who employs three people in his business, started looking into insurance options available to small businesses. There were two reasons we chose to use the Dirigo plan. First, it provided my family with coverage similar to that I was accustomed to having under my employer plans at comparable prices. (We receive no discount.)

Secondly, it allowed my husband to provide insurance for his employees. None of them could afford insurance as individuals. He could have offered insurance via another provider, but the discount Dirigo offers on the employee portion of the bill was critical for some of the employees, one whom was able to leave MaineCare due to this support.

Recently a letter to the editor in your newspaper (“Who endorses Dirigo?,” Jan. 20) suggested that the governor and legislators shouldn’t be promoting Dirigo if they weren’t consumers of the product themselves. However, Dirigo is not meant to be a single-payer plan for the entire state.

The governor, state legislators and members of the Maine Teachers Association are all employed by organizations that have access to group policies negotiated by their own specialists in competitive bidding. But many Maine residents don’t have access to such negotiated policies: anyone who is self employed, anyone who is unemployed, many who work for minimum or low wages.

Dirigo does that negotiating for us, allowing us to provide our families the parachute that could save us if we get into a medical bind. Without it, many of us will not have insurance at all.

Some may stint on medical care. Others may simply not pay their bills, which leaves hospitals and doctors holding the bag, while leaving the patients in a financial hole they may never be able to dig themselves out of, resulting in the need for ever more state services.

This is a cycle we can help break, person by person.

Marian Dalton lives in Brunswick.