Tax funding health care beneficial in long run

I read that a group has formed to try to rescind the recently passed tax increase that will help fund the state’s Dirigo health program. The same day, I filled out my renewal forms for my own participation in Dirigo.

Its detractors have some valid points, but its enrollment includes many residents for whom this is an indispensable part of life.

Three years ago, I lost my husband suddenly. He was usually very healthy, but he caught the flu, was stressed about a number of things, had an asthma attack and died before the ambulance could get to us. He left me with a 2-month-old baby, three dogs and a tiny life-insurance policy. I had quit my job to stay home with the baby for the first few years and we were living where we were because of his job.

There were many things keeping me in Maine – including my mother who moved here 10 years ago, not wanting to raise my son in a big city and wanting a nice garden – but the most important of all was that with the existence of the Dirigo plan, I could have both health insurance and a mortgage. No other plan worked. Private health insurance for my son and me cost $700 a month. It was more important than ever to be the daily caregiver for my son and I was receiving Social Security survivor benefits, so I did have some income.

I bought a little house in Belfast with a big yard for gardening, and my monthly mortgage was the same price as my health insurance premiums. After establishing residency, I enrolled in Dirigo. That first year, I had no other income and qualified for an 80 percent discount on premiums. While my son went to all his appointments, I didn’t see any doctor for myself because I couldn’t afford the

co-pay.

Last year, with us settled in and things feeling a little more controlled, I started a business. Having incurred some debt in the startup, it didn’t make a profit for 2007. But this year, business has already tripled and I expect to see a decent profit with plenty of room to grow. Along with that, I will roll over into a higher tier at Dirigo and begin to pay more of my premium. I will no longer need to rely on the subsidized account.

But if Dirigo hadn’t been there the first couple of years, I would never have made it to this point. I would have been stuck trying to make ends meet and paying for a baby sitter so I could get a job to have insurance, but I wouldn’t have made enough or had enough time to spend with my son and develop a decent life for us. I believe it is exactly because of stories like mine that these programs need to exist. Subsidized aid needs to be in place for people who need some help to get back on their feet and then turn around and contribute to society. I don’t believe it should be the long-term solution to anything.

Any program will have people for whom the program is a true lifesaver and those who know how to abuse it. Dirigo probably should do some fine-tuning, but overall, it is headed in the right direction. I don’t see insurance companies bending over backward to give people breaks soon.

This new tax affects the price of beer, wine and soda by 4 to 16 cents per unit purchased. Those are three things most of us like a lot, but could certainly live without if that dime is too much. Given the astronomical increase in staples such as milk, flour and eggs and the reasons behind those, is this tax that aims to provide health insurance for those of us that can’t afford the big companies the right tax to be fighting?

Anne Harper owns a bakery in Belfast.