Director tapped for Dirigo Health program

AUGUSTA – An executive director who will serve for $1 has been chosen for Maine’s fledgling universal health care program.

The appointment of Thomas Dunne of Cape Elizabeth was announced Friday by Gov. John Baldacci and Dr. Robert McAfee, who is the chairman of the board of directors of the Dirigo Health agency.

Formerly with the Accenture management consulting firm, Dunne has been working with the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance for several months, officials said.

“Thomas Dunne brings a wealth of experience and leadership to Dirigo, and will guide this agency through implementation of the landmark legislation passed last year,” Baldacci said in a prepared statement.

“I am pleased to have Mr. Dunne’s expertise to head this important effort to bring affordable, quality health care to every man, woman and child in Maine,” the governor said.

Dunne’s salary was not mentioned in the Baldacci administration’s announcement statement, but the nominal sum he is to receive was confirmed by top Baldacci health policy aide Trish Riley when asked by The Associated Press.

“He came here as a volunteer,” Riley said.

The Dirigo Health program enacted by the Legislature last year is designed to expand access to affordable insurance coverage by 2009 to all Mainers who need it.

The new law also seeks to lower health care costs through voluntary pricing caps.

Dirigo enrollees who are not eligible for Medicaid will pay for coverage under the plan. Group policies are to be made available to businesses and municipalities with 50 or fewer employees, and to the self-employed.

The law envisions 3 percent caps on hospital operating margins and 3.5 percent on annual cost increases.

McAfee said the Dirigo board had conducted “an extensive national search” and was confident “we have found the perfect person for the job in Tom Dunne.”

Officials said a director of sales and marketing for the new health program – Karynlee Harrington of Gray – also has been hired.

Harrington formerly worked as vice president of sales and customer support for Maine and New Hampshire at CIGNA, officials said.

“Tom Dunne and Karynlee Harrington bring extraordinary business background and experience that will help us assure a solid, affordable, quality health plan at a price Maine businesses can afford,” said Riley, who is the director of the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance.

The Dirigo Health program is scheduled to start up in the middle of this year.

“The challenge of implementing Dirigo Health in July is significant but the board is confident in its capacity to do so with the leadership of Tom Dunne and the team he is already beginning to pull together,” McAfee said. “We look forward to great success.”

The Dirigo Health board will set policy guidelines for the implementation and operation of the new health care system. Besides hiring an executive director, it will establish a benefits package to be offered by participating carriers.

Additionally, the board will establish an alternative plan for providing insurance in the event that private carriers are unavailable. The board also will set a subsidy scale for aiding a low-income insurance enrollment and determine savings offset payments that are to fund premium subsidies.

Baldacci has likened the health care initiative to Maine’s effort to make workers’ compensation insurance more affordable, saying, “it’s going into a field and trying to create a free-market competition.”