Meg Garratt-Reed to head a new independent agency created to analyze health care cost drivers and propose solutions for people in Maine
Governor Janet Mills announced today that she has nominated Meg Garratt-Reid, director of the Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, as Executive Director of the new Office of Affordable Health Care.
The Bureau of Affordable Health Care is an independent, nonpartisan executive agency that aims to analyze health care cost drivers and propose solutions to help people in Maine. The office will examine health data and identify policy recommendations to improve health care affordability, quality, access, and equity for individuals, families, employers, other health care payers, and state government.
Garratt-Reed is currently the director of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace, which operates CoverME.gov. Garratt-Reed was instrumental in launching CoverME.gov as a fully state-run health insurance marketplace in 2021, overseeing the market’s successful transition from the mixed-federal-state model. Maine’s greater control of its market, combined with the expansion of Medicaid, contributed to the state’s possession ofbiggest drop Its uninsured rate among all states in the country in recent years.
“Meg’s knowledge, depth of experience, and outstanding work founding CoverME.gov make her an excellent candidate to lead the new Office of Affordable Health Care.” said Gov. Janet Mills. “Maine has seen the largest decline in its uninsured rate of any state in the country in recent years. With Meg at the helm of this independent, nonpartisan organization, I believe we can continue to make progress in expanding life-saving insurance to more people and improving the ability to bear health care costs.”
“I am honored by this nomination and the opportunity to build on Maine’s pioneering expansion of coverage to help ensure that all Mainers can afford the health care they need.” said Meg Garrett Reed. “The Office of Affordable Health Care, with the Governor’s Office, lawmakers, and stakeholders, will work on solutions to bring relief from rising health care costs to Maine families and businesses in new and meaningful ways.”
Garratt Reid previously served as a Senior Consultant for Coverage and Affordability at DHHS. Prior to joining the department, Garratt-Reid was Director of Policy and Partnerships for USA Care, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that supports statewide efforts to expand affordable, quality health care, and served as Special Assistant to the Director of Delivery System Reform in the Office of the Administrator at US Centers For medical care and medical services.
Garratt-Reed’s nomination is subject to review by the Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services Committee and confirmation by the Maine Senate. The director serves for five years.
The Office of Affordable Health Care will collaborate with the governor’s office, other state agencies, and a variety of stakeholders to inform its work. The office, created under legislation sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson, will be advised by a 13-member council that includes representatives from health care providers, consumers, the workforce, taxpayers and other experts.
To create a basis for the office’s work, the governor’s office commissioned A ReportMaine Health Data summarizes recent trends in expenditure and quality of health care in Maine. This report will serve as a baseline for beginning to inform the discussion about health care payments and health care quality in Maine.
DHHS has launched a search for a new director for the Health Insurance Marketplace Office.
Attached is a photo of Raid Raid.