Under Insurance problem in Maine

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) -- The study released by USM's Muskie School of Public Service focuses on Mainers who have signed up with the DirigoChoice program, a private-public partnership that provides comprehensive health care coverage at discounted rates.

The study says nearly 40 percent of those who enrolled in DirigoChoice were uninsured, had been uninsured some time during the year or had only temporary coverage.



It also says their dependents were more likely to have coverage, possibly through MaineCare and the state Children's Health Insurance Program.



Currently, 8,100 Mainers receive coverage through DirigoChoice. Doctor Robert McAfee is chairman of the Dirigo Health Agency Board of Directors. He says that before DirigoChoice, most enrollees with incomes below 18-thousand, 620 dollars had been paying about 25 percent of their annual incomes for health care coverage. He says those people would have been hard pressed to pay deductibles if they were hospitalized.