"For part-time employees who aren't able to afford the employee part, that's where the vouchers are going to come in," says Sarah Gagne-Holmes, who sits on an advisory group helping Dirigo to develop the program, and is a member of the Dirigo board. "They're going to get a certain subsidy based on income to help them purchase their employer's coverage."
Gagne-Holmes, who leads the Maine Equal Justice Project, which provides legal aid to low-income Mainers, says the program has the potential to make a big difference for the uninsured.
But others working on developing the program with Dirigo say it creates other problems. The program aims to subsidize part-timers' insurance costs but does not address the additional costs employers will have to provide, says Peter Gore of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. "I think there was some surprise on the part of the folks at Dirigo with respect to the ability of employers to pay a portion of the premium in order to secure the coverage," he says.
Gore is also part of the advisory group, which includes employers whose workers are being targeted for the vouchers -- such as grocery stores and home health agencies. "Some of those targeted employers indicated that even a moderate premium requirement on the part of the employers -- some employers -- would make it impossible for them to participate in this kind of a program," Gore says.
The topic will be taken up tomorrow as the advisory group gets together for only the second time. The focus will be on part-time workers, but the $8.5 million federal grant is also directed at seasonal and direct care workers.
Rick Erb of the Maine Health Care Association says the workers at the long-term care facilities he represents could use the extra help. "As costs have increased and as reimbursement has not for the providers, a bigger share of the costs are being put upon the employee, and we have people who are refusing coverage simply for that reason," Erb says. "So this is not, in many cases, an instance where a new benefit is being provided but it would allow, hopefully, more people to take advantage of the benefit that is already in place."
It's not clear if the seasonal and direct care workers would get assistance through vouchers, because in some of their cases, employers don't provide insurance to begin with.
That's something that still needs to be worked out, but Gagne-Holmes says it's hoped that seasonal and direct care workers will start receiving assistance in July.