On Aug. 27, I read a letter to the editor in the Sun Journal that said that Dirigo health plan was not affordable for “us poor.” The writer reinforced this comment by stating that with so many people out of work, on limited incomes, and/or homeless, we could not afford Dirigo.

This “poor” writer must not be aware of the fact that the cost of Dirigo is directly related to how much a person makes. If you make less money, you pay less. Also mentioned by the writer was the argument that the deductibles for Dirigo would be too high, thus making this already unaffordable health insurance even more unaffordable. With Dirigo, the deductible you pay depends on which plan an individual takes and there’s no deductible for preventative care.

The writer concludes by stating that the government should be looking at the needs of the people before burdening us further financially. I assume this means she believes that Dirigo is being funded by our tax dollars. The fact is that no tax dollars go to fund Dirigo.

As a small business owner, the Dirigo health plan is exactly what I and other small business owners need and have been demanding. With the high cost of health insurance from private insurers being what it is, Dirigo provides one more benefit to us: we get our pride back when we can afford to insure ourselves, thanks to Dirigo.

C. Matt Graham, Auburn