Baldacci touts Dirigo plan at forum

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Associated Press

BOSTON — Maine Gov. John Baldacci touted his state's universal health care access program Tuesday at a forum in Massachusetts, which is looking at ways to overhaul its health care system and expand coverage to all of its residents. Baldacci was a featured speaker at a Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation forum at the John F. Kennedy Library.

Baldacci described his state's Dirigo Health program as a public-private partnership that "requires all Maine people and institutions to be engaged in creating solutions."

In 2003, the Maine Legislature enacted Baldacci's plan to create Dirigo Health with hopes of providing access to health care coverage to more than 130,000 Mainers who lacked it. Coverage is offered through Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine.

Amid legislative Republicans' criticism that the program's enrollment has lagged behind projections, Baldacci announced in May that eligibility standards were being expanded to add thousands of families to the nearly 6,400 families and businesses already enrolled.

Last week, the Legislature rejected attempts to curtail Dirigo as it enacted a law to switch the program's funding source from $53 million in startup money to a combination of premiums, "savings offset" payments and federal matching funds that are aimed at making the program self-sustaining.

Savings offsets, a key component of Dirigo's funding, are based on cost savings realized through cost controls on health care services. The new law changes how the savings offsets are collected, from assessments on premium revenues to assessments on paid claims.

In his remarks Tuesday, Baldacci said it is "easy and popular" to blame insurers for soaring insurance premiums. "But we all know that health care costs are at the core of the issue," he said, adding that reforms should deal with the underlying costs of the health care system.

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