Health foundation seeks uses for funds Public hearing set for Monday in Dedham

The foundation formed with $82 million from the sale of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine to Anthem Insurance Cos. of Indiana is seeking public comment on how to spend its money to increase access to health care in Maine.

Maine Health Access Foundation, Inc., will listen to public comments from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at the Lucerne Inn in Dedham. Dr. Wendy Wolf, executive director of the foundation, said it is holding hearings across the state to get opinions on the best way to help the uninsured and the so-called “underinsured” in Maine.

“This foundation is really working on behalf of the public,” she said.

The foundation created a “Primer on Health Care Coverage in Maine” using a variety of national and local sources of information. The primer, which eventually will be available on the Internet, is designed to serve as a basis for discussion on how to improve access to care, she said.

Although Wolf would not identify any ideas that foundation trustees have regarding specific priorities for foundation action, she said there’s no question that every trustee wants universal access to health care. That doesn’t mean that trustees are promoting a single-payer system.

“The foundation is agnostic about the mechanism to get there,” she said.

In coming months, the foundation will seek grant proposals from communities and organizations in Maine with a plan to reduce barriers to the access of health care. Every year, the foundation must make grants totaling at least 5 percent of the foundation’s assets, she said. Today, the foundation’s assets have grown through investment income to $88 million, she said.

Wolf, a pediatric cardiologist who practiced and taught for 20 years in Texas, now lives full time in West Boothbay Harbor, where she’s had a house for about eight years. Before accepting the position with the foundation, she worked in Washington, D.C., on health policy issues.

The foundation already has held public hearings in Portland and Lewiston. Others scheduled are: Biddeford, University of New England, St. Francis Room, Jan. 24 at 5 p.m.; University of Maine at Presque Isle, Allagash Room, Jan. 27 at 5 p.m.; Augusta Civic Center, Fort Western Room, Feb 7 at 5 p.m.

An additional hearing is being organized for Dover-Foxcroft, but a time and place have not been set, Wolf said.