Poll needs some DU love

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/statehouse/060316dirigo.shtml

DirigoChoice

Gov. John Baldacci proposed the creation of a nonprofit organization to run the state-sponsored DirigoChoice health insurance program. Would the nonprofit organization improve DirigoChoice?

No: 56.35%
Yes: 37.29%
Undecided: 6.35%

Total Votes: 362


Please vote yes. Dirigo Health is too important to let the Republicans and health insurance companies kill it. If we can make it work in Maine, it can work elsewhere and that's the thought keeping CEOs awake at night.

Thank you!

it's working!

why create a nfp instead of allowing a state agency to continue oversight? why outsource this to a nfp when the state already operates essentially in the same way that the nfp?

It's Anthem, a for-profit company. Under state law, when the program was established the state had to try to use an existing for-profit company as a partner. The only company that bid was Anthem. Essentially Anthem told the other companies, "Don't worry, we'll bite the bullet for a year or two, then kill it." Anthem has been poisoning this from the beginning. If you call Anthem and ask for Dirigo, they will tell you it isn't "right" for you and push their own product. When they give estimates on cost of coverage, they inflate it and "forget" to tell you that the state will be reimbursing you for a lot of the out-of-pocket costs. The latest is that they have begun printing "Anthem Tax" on the bills going to their customers, and telling their customers that THEY are subsidizing the program.

It's a mess. Hopefully the state will be able to get this program under a non-profit next year and save the program. PBS just came up and did a report on Dirigo. If it catches on and works here, it can work in other states. That scares the hell out of health insurance companies...