AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine’s Dirigo Health program is expanding to provide coverage to thousands of more families, Gov. John Baldacci announced Monday.

Parents whose incomes are up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level now qualify for health coverage, up from the previous maximum of 150 percent, Baldacci said. It means a family of four with income between $29,000 and $39,000 now qualifies.

With the expansion, Dirigo will be able to cover nearly 10,000 new parents while reducing bad debt and charity care for people who previously had no health coverage, the governor said. Resulting savings of $10 million are “sufficient to cover the expense of this expansion,” Baldacci said.

The expansion builds upon the current membership in the program of 6,369 families and businesses, Baldacci said. As of January, 2,700 Maine families and businesses had applied for coverage under Dirigo, whose insurance product is known as DirigoChoice.

Reducing charity care and bad debt avoids the need for hospitals to shift costs to others who pay insurance premiums and taxpayers who pay the costs of government health care, said Richard Batt, president of the Franklin County Community Health Network, who also spoke at a State House news conference. The network is affiliated with Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.

The Dirigo Health program was created by the Legislature in 2003 with hopes of providing access to health care coverage to 130,000 Mainers who lacked it. Coverage is offered through Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine.

“Two years ago we didn’t know where we were going. We had no road map,” said Senate Majority Leader Michael Brennan, D-Portland, who chaired a committee that handled talks among insurers, hospitals and others with a strong interest in the legislation that created Dirigo.

But Maine now has the foundation of the nation’s first universal health care system, Brennan said.

“We’re ahead of the curve as usual,” said Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport.

Republicans have voiced skepticism about the program, especially its impact on the state budget and enrollments that were thousands below expectations early in the year.

Bill Becker of the Maine Heritage Policy Center said the state should be addressing the causes of high health insurance premiums rather than expanding what amounts to, in his view, a welfare program.