Health care foundation to launch with $40M in bank

HELENA — The Montana Healthcare Foundation will have a hefty $40 million in the bank to start, but just what the nonprofit will do with that money is not yet clear.

Attorney General Tim Fox announced the foundation's creation Friday from the pending sale of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana to Health Care Service Corp.

Proceeds from the sale of nonprofit health insurers such as Blue Cross must go to a nonprofit foundation under state law.

Legal documents establishing the foundation say it will provide financial support to improve the quality, availability and awareness of health care programs and services.

But how it does so won't be clear until a board of trustees is selected.

Former University of Montana law school dean E. Edwin Eck will head the search committee.