PRESQUE ISLE – Former University of Maine Chancellor Robert Woodbury delivered his message advocating a healthier Maine to a business breakfast gathering at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

The chairman of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care, Woodbury said there are no quick fixes in Maine for the high cost of health care.

“We can do things in Maine, but it’s a patchwork process,” Woodbury said to the group of about 100 people composed of business leaders in Aroostook County. A good portion of the audience included hospital officials and health professionals.

During his presentation, Woodbury described the commission’s work to define the structure of the state’s health care system and what drives the costs of providing health care throughout the state.

The report was delivered last November to Gov. Angus King.

During his talk, the former chancellor, now interim dean at the Muskie School of Public Service in Portland, didn’t address the issue of consolidation of hospitals and other health care agencies in order to save money.

The concept became an issue in Aroostook County during the 1990s when a merger was contemplated between The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle and Cary Medical Center in Caribou.

Negotiations broke down, and the merger never was consummated. Instead, TAMC formed an affiliation with Eastern Maine Healthcare, which operates Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

After his talk, Woodbury said that there probably is “overcapacity” in Maine.

The debate, however, turns to what facility should close in an effort to consolidate services, Woodbury said.

The answer may be in “mission redefinition” for those health agencies, rather than in closure, he said.

Woodbury said that studying health care is different from any other section of the economy.

“You’re dealing with something that doesn’t depend on market forces like other parts of the economy does,” Woodward said.

The speaker also predicted an erosion of the practice of employers providing health insurance for workers. “No other countries deal with it [health care] this way,” said Woodbury.

No real change will come to the state’s or the nation’s health care systems unless there is a central payer system, patterned after how the federal gas tax is collected and distributed back to the states for highway improvements.

Any change probably will come from business leaders, who will become disillusioned with paying for insurance premiums, and not the political left, Woodbury said.

Meanwhile, making children healthier should be a primary focus in the state. To tell older, middle-aged people to stop smoking, improve their diet or get more exercise may be “a lost cause,” according to Woodbury.

Increased consumer education, an efficient health care delivery system and more access for the 25 percent of Maine residents who have no effective health insurance also were suggestions made by Woodbury’s commission.

In answer to an audience comment about charging higher insurance premiums for people making unhealthful choices, Woodbury said that it’s difficult to know where to draw the line regarding an obese or physically unfit person.

“You may be dealing with things in people’s lives that may be difficult for them,” Woodbury said.