Movers & Shakers: Portico Healthnet President Meghan Kimmel

Meghan Kimmel is building sustainable funding sources as the president of Portico Healthnet, a St. Paul-based nonprofit that helps low-income Minnesotans access affordable health care.

Kimmel joined Portico a year ago, serving as vice president of partner relations, overseeing external communications, legislative affairs, strategic partnerships and fundraising. She succeeded Debra Holmgren, who retired after 21 years with Portico.

"I would feel a lot more comfortable with our ability to meet the needs of all of our stakeholders if we had a greater portion of our budget as a more constant source of funding," Kimmel said.

Portico offers education about affordable government health care programs and helps eligible individuals and families enroll.

It has its own alternative coverage program for those without other options, Kimmel said, in partnership with health care systems in the Twin Cities metro area, which provide most of the funding. Most clients are undocumented families and individuals who do not qualify for public programs.

Portico educates consumers about health care use and promotes preventive practices. The organization emphasizes health care literacy to "make sure that resources within the health care system are being used in the most effective way for the consumers, the providers and the payers."

Kimmel's experience includes communications and public affairs roles at Aeon, DirectAg.com, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Allina Health. She has a degree in sociology from Wesleyan University.

A: Sustainability. We're incredibly dependent on philanthropic contributions from foundations, from corporations, and we are fortunate that we're in a very generous community. But the margins are a little too small for my comfort. It doesn't provide us with much flexibility to be creative when we have to be so careful about spending the rather limited resources that we have. And there certainly isn't the same degree of multiyear grants that there once was.

Q: What brought you to Portico?

A: I was drawn to Portico by its mission. My personal values have a lot to do with equity and with family and being able to take care of the people that we love. To me, personally, accessing health care is central to that.

Q: How has the Affordable Care Act affected Portico?

A: There are some things that have become more complicated. There are some things that have become easier. But hands down it has allowed more people to access coverage. We see that day in and day out.