Physician voting Yes on Question 1

No one would argue the need for affordable, high-quality health care for Maine. Unfortunately, voting No on Question 1 does nothing to further that goal, which is why I am voting Yes to reject the proposed new taxes on health care claims and beverages.

This newspaper’s recent endorsement of a No vote seems to be based on the questionable logic that voting against the people’s veto will “give Dirigo a chance to succeed.” Dirigo’s own advocates, of which I consider myself one, admit that despite innovative thought and excellent intentions it is not succeeding.

Dirigo already has been given five years and more than $100 million of taxpayers’ money. Regrettably, the program has not achieved anything even close to the success its backers promised. Asking Maine people and small businesses to shell out $75 million in new taxes each year, when the existing program covers about 1 percent of the state is not the answer; it is simply poor fiscal management.

I say this as a practicing physician and president of the Maine Osteopathic Association. Throughout our 100-year history, our doctors have made it a priority to provide quality health care to all Maine people, especially the uninsured and underinsured. This is evidenced by the large proportion of our membership who provide free or reduced-rate care to the neediest members of our communities.

The board of directors of our association voted unanimously to support a Yes vote on Question 1. As an organization, we simply are unable to support this expansion of Dirigo funding. We do not believe that new taxes that disproportionately affect small-business owners are an appropriate source of revenue in these challenging economic times.

The cost of health insurance in Maine is one of the highest in the country. When we are looking to decrease the number of uninsured people in Maine, the easy response is just to add a new tax, but that is not the right fix. We need to find solutions to bring costs down, not drive them up.

Fundamental change in state insurance regulations, not taxes, can make Maine insurance affordable. The same insurance policies offered in Maine are offered in other states for half to one-third the price; achieving these savings should be our focus, not more funding for a failing program. Given our current economy, adding a new tax when it does not solve the problem it claims to address is simply outrageous.

Perhaps because many of our physicians serve in rural areas of Maine, we have a better understanding of the relationship between the health of our people and the health our economy. The best thing that we can do to reduce the number of uninsured in our state is to create good jobs with good benefits and to change state regulations to make health insurance affordable. Raising taxes is not the way to make that happen.

The BDN editorial also dismissed a recent study by a University of Maine economics professor showing the new beverage taxes will cost Maine $26 million in lost sales and that nearly 400 of our fellow residents will lose their jobs.

How are we helping improve health care for Maine people by weakening our economy, eliminating jobs and potentially making health care insurance even more expensive by taxing the claims of those who already

are working hard to keep their coverage?

The editorial tries many different ways to justify these new taxes, but in our opinion they can’t be justified – not at this time and not for this program. No matter how you look at it, these taxes simply prop up a novel program that has been given ample opportunity and ample resources to succeed and has failed to make the grade.

Thanks to the people’s veto, Maine people finally get to have their say. I urge readers to join our association in voting Yes on Question 1 to reject these taxes.

Douglas Jorgensen of Manchester is a practicing physician and president of the Maine Osteopathic Association.