A recent letter to the editor states derisively at the end that “the greedy insurance industry should be ashamed (of saving $44 million) and should pitch the money Dirigo saved them back into the Dirigo program.”

Not to worry, the insurance companies are required by law to pay the full $44 million “savings” to the state. But don’t think they are paying this tax. That will end up being paid by most employers.

To the insurance company, the Dirigo tax is just another added cost of doing business in Maine. All of an insurance company’s costs get passed along to their customers, just like any other business. Then Maine companies pass their cost for medical insurance on to their customers.

But this tax is only charged to employers who offer their employees medical insurance; those that do not offer insurance to their employees are not taxed. I wonder if some of these companies will reconsider?

Let’s face it, Dirigo is just a state-sponsored shell game that has evidently fooled a lot of people. If a private company tried this kind of sleight-of-hand trick against the public, it would be taken to court.

Only Gov. Baldacci could get away with touting that Dirigo created a savings of $44 million in health care costs, while actually collecting $44 million in new taxes.

Maine never saw a tax it didn’t like, and now it has created something new – the Dirigo tax.

David Cutter, Auburn