The majority of the Maine public seems willing to remain uncommitted on the issue of the proposed Dirigo Health Plan. As this Legislature is comprised of many first time and politically inexperienced people, pushing the plan through must seem like a no-brainer for shrewd “old hands” like the governor and his staff.

What is the rush?

Everyone in favor of this plan believes the governor and his staff understands more about the current state of health care and its related costs in Maine than people who administer to it each day. Why was their input not listened to, much less welcome?

A published paper in February 2003 by PriceWaterhouseCooper stated 55.4 percent of the total increase in health care is attributable to an increase in the number of services provided to the patient. It is reasonable to expect costs to rise if patient numbers increase. It does not mean profits increase anywhere near this number.

How can a budget proposal based on health care costs in 1999 and increased by 3 percent each year to 2005 be expected to cover the actual and more realistic average increase of 6.2 percent? That works out to somewhere around $750 million less than the actual costs based on real medical inflation and real patient population increases.

Let’s slow down and evaluate this plan. Blindly passing it in a heated rush and then fixing the problems caused by it is irresponsible at best!

The governor’s office is better than that.

Howard Freeman, Lewiston