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Friday, December 2, 2005
MAINE VOICES: Sen. Michael Brennan and Sen. Arthur Mayo
Dirigo critics show disrespect for Mainers
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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It's time to show respect for Maine people who will gain access to health coverage from the Dirigo Health plan and the Maine Quality Forum. Last Sunday, the Maine Sunday Telegram devoted an entire page in its "Insight" section to an editorial on Dirigo. It honestly weighed the benefits and shortcomings of the plan. The conclusion was that Dirigo should stay. It's good for Maine people and embodies the values of community of which we Mainers are proud. Unfortunately for Maine people who will benefit from this innovative plan, some detractors have chosen it as a political football in this election year and have created an agenda to dismantle Dirigo. DISAPPOINTED WITH GLYNN We were very disappointed with Rep. Kevin Glynn's column in the Press Herald on Nov. 23 concerning Dirigo Health funding. We both served on the Joint Select Committee on Health Care Reform with Rep. Glynn, a South Portland Republican, when he supported the unanimous report of the committee. Instead of advocating for Maine people who participate in DirigoChoice and those who want to make sure Dirigo Health's $43.7 million in savings are shared with Dirigo members, he chose to help the bottom line of health insurance companies that would replace Dirigo with private plans. Something has changed. Rep. Glynn was a lead advocate for Dirigo Health when it was enacted in June 2003. At that time the law included a funding method for Dirigo Health initiatives containing a savings offset payment - an assessment on insurers based on savings in Maine's health care system. The mechanism is simple: If Dirigo Health creates savings in the system, insurers will capture those savings and make a payment to the state to help fund DirigoChoice coverage and the Maine Quality Forum. Dirigo Health has achieved its goal of reducing the growth of health care costs. Maine's superintendent of insurance recently ruled that Dirigo Health saved Maine's health care system $43.7 million in the past year. His decision came after months of negotiations between stakeholders and a comprehensive hearing in which the savings were scrutinized by industry lawyers and accountants. The savings are there. The issue now is who will benefit from them. Insurers are saying they can't capture the savings. We need to pressure them to do their job as insurers and negotiate rates with hospitals that reflect the savings. Rep. Glynn advocates leaving the savings with the industry. That would effectively gut the DirigoChoice program, which serves 7,300 hard-working members and 2,000 businesses across the state. An additional 4,000 parents now have coverage through the MaineCare program as a result of Dirigo Health, and there are more than 3,000 people waiting to join the DirigoChoice program. We should keep the original plan, which has the insurers capturing the savings created by Dirigo Health and paying the offset payment with those savings. This payment will allow DirigoChoice to up its enrollment to nearly 23,500 next year. We need to hold insurers accountable and ensure they do not increase premiums (above what they are already doing) in order to cover the cost of the payment. As Gov. Baldacci said, for insurers to increase premiums as a result of the payment as they are threatening to do would be "unacceptable, period." Remember, Dirigo is a health plan that benefits everyone. The fairness of Dirigo is due to its guarantee that everyone can participate regardless of their health status and everyone shares in the costs. NO PRIVATE OPTIONS Some legislators have submitted alternatives involving private insurance plans. Those plans would force some uninsured Maine people to self-insure several thousand dollars of out-of-pocket expenses and pay graduated insurance rates which would make insurance unaffordable for older people and those with health problems. Moreover, there would be the potential for Mainers to be faced with a complicated maze of private insurance plans similar to the confusion we see now with the "Federal Medicare Part D Program." It would be a step into the past, with confusing offers designed to benefit insurance companies and not the people of Maine. We can't back-pedal now. Dirigo is less than a year old. Most insurance products take several years to be completely up and running, and Dirigo is no different. This is not the time to play politics with a benefit that earned a large majority vote of the Legislature. It's time to move away from political posturing around Dirigo Health and treat Maine people with the respect they deserve. - Special to the Press Herald
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