| Health Care —Affordable for Laid-Off Workers
with DirigoChoice
by Ramona du Houx
Maine recently
increased its ranking nationally to the eighth healthiest state in the nation, taking
8,000 people off the uninsured rolls. The decreases in uninsured residents since Dirigo
Health came into effect took Maine from having the highest percent of uninsured residents
in New England to the lowest.
The Muskie
School of Public Service recent report stated that compared with similar state programs in
Washington, New Mexico, and New York, DirigoChoice has the highest success rate in
attracting small businesses. About 32 percent of DirigoChoice members are small business
employees, compared with 26 percent in New York, 3 percent in New Mexico, and less than 1
percent in Washington State.
When Brunswick
Naval Air Station announced it would be closing and when the Georgia Pacific mill
announced it was closing, the governor sent in teams to help the workers and offered them
DirigoChoice.
Four years ago,
the federal Trade Adjustment Act included a tax credit for health care, so that workers
who lost their jobs could still get coverage. There was one hitch: the laid-off workers
still had to come up with 35 percent of the cost — the federal credit only covered 65
percent — for qualified premiums to be paid on their behalf to their insurance
providers.
That 35 percent
could be hundreds of dollars. To someone collecting unemployment it wasn’t realistic.
For some it meant the decision between food and health care.
Recently the
Health Coverage Tax Credit was combined with DirigoChoice, making health care for laid-off
workers within their reach.
"It is
making a huge difference for families in Old Town," said Dan Bird, vice president of
Local 80 of the papermakers union, who was recently hired by Red Shield, the company that
bought the former Georgia Pacific Mill. "It really has helped to relieve the
anxiety."
According to
the Bangor Daily News, out of 5,111 eligible workers in Maine only 404 had signed on to
pay their premium to receive discounted health-care coverage. With DirigoChoice’s
additional discount, it’s estimated that some of the eligible unemployed could
receive coverage for as low as $30 a month. Now that the discount is in effect, over 120
eligible unemployed workers have signed up.
Obviously the
demand for health-care coverage is ever present, but until now has been cost prohibitive
for many displaced workers.
DirigoChoice
has become a solution," said Commissioner of the Department of Labor Laura Fortman.
"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," stated the Bangor Daily News in a November 17th editorial.
"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." |
