Do officials at Dirigo Choice wonder why their efforts are viewed with skepticism? One answer could be the spin put on a survey conducted by the Dirigo Health Agency.

The Dirigo legislation was sold as a way to provide coverage for 136,000 uninsured Mainers. The enrollment target for the first year was 31,000. Actual enrollment, according to the governor’s press release of Aug. 15, is 8,100.

Of those 8,100, how many were uninsured? The survey says that for the first quarter of 2005, 72 percent had health insurance when they enrolled, while 28 percent reported being uninsured individuals. But, rather than focus on why the program is not reaching the uninsured, the report talks at length about another group of Mainers entirely – the “under-insured,” implying that all who opt for a “high-deductible” plan are by definition “underinsured.”

Not everyone with a high deductible is under-insured. Is the person who undergoes an $80,000 procedure and is asked to pay $2,500 really “under-insured?” Is someone who has a health plan that provides millions of dollars in protection each year really “under-insured?”

Let’s ask the hard question: Is the path we are pursuing going in the right direction? Health-care spending grew from 15.5 percent of the gross state product in 1998 to 17.9 percent (estimate) in 2004.

This is an economic development problem. We need to get it right. We need to be working together with facts, not with spin.

Cathy Gavin, executive director, Maine Healthcare Purchasing Collaborative, Yarmouth