By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Maine is about to get busy preventing illnesses.

On Monday, Trish Riley, director of the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance, released a draft of a statewide health plan which puts a huge emphasis on helping Mainers stay or get healthy.

The hoped-for result will be an eventual change in Maine’s culture with residents having a better understanding of how to be healthy.

After seeking input from residents at public hearings in Lewiston, Brewer and Portland on Nov. 21 and 22, the final plan will go Gov. John Baldacci, then be implemented Jan. 1, Riley said. It is Baldacci’s goal to help Maine become one of the healthiest states in the country, Riley said.

Mainers spend more of their incomes on health care than 45 other states because Mainers have more cancer, heart and respiratory diseases, diabetes and depression. And like most states, a majority of Mainers are overweight or obese. To change all that, starting next year:

• Doctors will ask patients to sign confidential contracts. In those contracts interested patients will pledge to take action to become healthier.

• Pediatricians will promote a “5-2-1-0” daily plan. To help children stay healthy and not become overweight, pediatricians will encourage parents to ensure children eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day; have no more than two hours of television or computer time; have one hour of exercise; and drink no sodas with sugar.

• Employers will be encouraged to offer incentives to workers to get healthy through work site wellness programs.

• A statewide public health system with regional public health offices will be created. That system will better deliver resources to help people learn how to prevent illnesses or treat their conditions.

• Hospitals and health providers will be assessed a new kind of health tax when they build or expand. A “1 percent for Public Health” fee will be assessed to projects that gain the state “Certificate of Need” to, for instance, build a new wing or floor. That 1 percent, which ranged from $267,000 to $1.6 million during the last five years, will pay for the proposed statewide health system.

The state will continue to restrain capital investment by doctors and hospitals which, Riley says, can push up costs for all. Only medical projects deemed to be within Maine’s needs will be approved.

Recognizing that Maine has a health cost crisis, in 2006 the state will double the number of the uninsured people enrolled in DirigoChoice. Money to pay for more uninsured enrolling in DirigoChoice would not come from taxpayers, Riley said, but from the $44 million Dirigo saved last year.

The big theme of the plan is that health help will come from a number of sources: local and state organizations, doctors and hospitals, even employers, said Dr. Dora Mills, director of Maine’s Bureau of Health.

“People will see is a more organized system of prevention,” Mills said. “When people go to their doctors they will probably hear prevention mentioned more. … Certain issues may be raised. Weight control is an example. We know that when most people who are overweight or obese go to a doctor’s office, it’s not even mentioned.”

In the short term, the plan would not save money, Riley said. In the long term, there would be savings as healthier Mainers need less care, she said.

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