Four years ago, the federal Trade Adjustment Act included a tax credit for health care, so that workers who lost their jobs – then, in Maine, it was Hathaway and Dexter Shoe, Saucony and International Paper – could still get coverage. That change was helpful, but far better here recently was that the coverage, called the Health Coverage Tax Credit, was combined with DirigoChoice. That, according to the local AFL-CIO, “for the 450 families at the Old Town mill [will make] a huge difference.”

Beginning in August 2003, eligible laid-off workers could request a 65 percent credit for qualified premiums to be paid on their behalf to their insurance providers. The participants would then pay the remaining premium. Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins led the Senate debate to provide this benefit, and Maine became a pilot site to begin the program. The problem was that even that 35 percent was still out of reach for many workers.

That means that even though Maine, according to a federal study in September, had 5,111 workers eligible for the tax credit, only 404 had paid their share of the premium and received the discounted coverage. But with Dirigo’s additional discount, based on income, the unemployed workers could suddenly get coverage for as low as $30 a month, and 120 new participants signed up in just a few weeks with more signing up weekly.

The reaction suggests the demand for coverage is there but price is the primary barrier, and Dirigo provides a solution. This aligns with a recent study from the Muskie School of Public Service, which showed that, compared with similar state programs in Washington, New York and New Mexico, DirigoChoice has the highest success rate in attracting small businesses. Approximately 32 percent of its members were small business employees, compared with 26 percent in New York, 3 percent in New Mexico and less than 1 percent in Washington state.

Further, since the launch of Dirigo, Maine has dropped from having the highest percent of uninsured residents in New England to the lowest. Too much of that change, unfortunately, can be attributed to rates in the other states rising while Maine’s fell slightly. But it remains true that this state, with Dirigo as a tool, is holding its own in a battle for coverage, a battle most states are losing.

The federal government, slow on so many issues regarding the effects of free trade on workers and the serious need for universal access to health-care coverage, has left the issue too often to the states. Maine was able to respond because of Dirigo, and while the state has yet to solve the debilitating problem of reducing costs within the health care system, it should note the success in this area for workers facing substantial challenges in their lives.