AUGUSTA – Confusion over a rescheduled public hearing brought a full complement of insurance company attorneys, consumer advocates, state officials and others to a public hearing at the State House on Tuesday morning to take the official testimony of just one member of the public.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, which administers the state-sponsored DirigoChoice health insurance program, has requested a rate increase for 2007 that would raise monthly premiums an average of 23 percent for purchasers of individual coverage. Under Maine law, state Insurance Superintendent Alessandro Iuppa must take public comment on the request before either approving or denying the increase.

A public hearing originally scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 28, recently was rescheduled to next Tuesday, Dec. 5. But officials feared that not all concerned members of the public had learned of the change and decided to offer both opportunities to present testimony.

Visibly nervous at being the only consumer in the room of dark-suited officials, Pat Berger of Sidney told Iuppa on Tuesday morning that if he approves the rate increase, she no longer will be able to afford health care coverage.

“I went without insurance for five years,” Berger, 58, told Iuppa, who was flanked by bureaucrats from his office and the Office of the Attorney General. When the state-supported DirigoChoice plan became available in January 2005, she realized she could “just barely afford it,” and enrolled. Anthem’s proposed rate increase would raise her monthly premium to $512, significantly more than the $387 she pays now, and more than she can afford to pay.

Berger, the sole proprietor of an alternative health care practice, said she used her coverage only once in the past year – to undergo her first medical checkup in more than seven years.

“My doctor said I’m healthier than I’ve ever been,” she said. “People should be granted a discount for taking care of themselves,” she added, not penalized with higher premiums.

In addition to Iuppa and his cadre of advisers, the hearing was overseen by participating attorneys from Anthem and from the nonprofit organization Consumers for Affordable Healthcare, which opposes the rate increase and is authorized to argue against it formally in the superintendent’s review. Other Anthem representatives sat in the audience, as did John Carr of the Maine Council of Senior Citizens.

Other than Berger, no members of the general public were present.

The rescheduled hearing will start at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, in Room 127 of the State House. Members of the public are invited to submit verbal or written testimony.

For more information, call the insurance bureau toll-free at (800) 300-5000 or visit www.maineinsurancereg.org/.