Life Insurance

Miller’s bill, which will be given a public hearing on May 1 before the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, asks legislators to give up their more lucrative state employee health plan, with its limited deductibles.

Dirigo Choice, a state subsidized health plan offered through Anthem, has deductibles starting at $1,250. The state health employee plan has a $200 deductible for individuals and a $400 deductible for families.

The state also picks up 100 percent of the premium cost for legislators, as it does for other state employees, and 50 percent of dependent coverage. Miller said she hopes the state also would pick up 100 percent of the premium if legislators were put into Dirigo Choice.

“We’d probably pay more co-pays and probably have a higher deductible,” Miller said, but, even so, some of her colleagues support the plan.

Rep. Tom Saviello, an independent from Wilton, put in a bill earlier this year that would have put all state workers under Dirigo Choice, including legislators. It got killed in committee. The state employees union vigorously opposed the bill, calling it an attack on their health care coverage.

Saviello, who originally voted for the legislation to create Dirigo Choice, but is now opposed to the way it is funded, said he thought more people enrolled in the plan could help it succeed. At the very least, the proposal would show what support there was for Dirigo.

He and other legislators confirmed they were peppered with e-mails from state workers saying they were not interested. Saviello said he will support Miller’s bill if it comes to the floor.

Sen. Joe Brannigan, D-Cumberland County, the chairman of Health and Human Services, said he, too, would support Miller’s bill if it will help the long-term survival of Dirigo.

Dirigo Choice currently covers about 13,500 individuals and employees of small businesses. Premiums and deductibles are subsidized for those making less than 300 percent of what the federal government describes as poverty. The program was conceived as a way to reduce the numbers of uninsured in the state, but the cost has kept enrollment down and its funding is currently being debated.

Brannigan put a bill in earlier in the session that would have looked at combining all health plans supported by the state, including Dirigo, the state employees plan, and health insurance for teachers, largely provided through the state teachers union. It, too, was killed in committee.

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