Connecticut drops private for-profit insurers from Medicaid

[Bill USA]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-28/connecticut-health-care-medicare-insurance/52257962/1

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Beginning Sunday, Connecticut will jettison its private health plans from Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program. Instead of paying the companies a set monthly fee to cover the health costs of more than 400,000 children and parents, the state will assume financial responsibility.

State officials say the companies, including Hartford-based Aetna, did not fulfill their promise of lower costs and better care.

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...Oklahoma moved away from private plans in 2005, and officials there say they have no regrets. "While achieving very encouraging marks in both member satisfaction and quality, the cost per member has grown at a very low average annual rate of 1.2% over the last five years," says Mike Fogarty, Oklahoma's Medicaid director.

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... state reports found the plans were spending too little on health services and published networks of doctors that were misleading because many doctors refused to accept Medicaid patients when "secret shoppers" called for appointments.
(more)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good for Connecticut.

[CTyankee]

9. We have a wonderful new governor, Dan Malloy, a good Democrat.

He's really hardworking and a nice guy. I look at Chris Christie and some of the other Republican governors around the country and I feel so blessed here in CT. Dan is everything they are not...

[notadmblnd]

2. I don't think anyone can give 1 instance when privatising a government service actually saved money

Anyone?

[aquart]

3. Nope. Privatization is a license to steal.

[PA Democrat]

6. Or improved access to health care.

What I have seen since Medicaid was privatized in PA is a reduction in coverage.

[catabryna]

4. Such a shame that there are no private non-profits...

We have them here on the west coast. My son is on Kaiser and it is non-profit. He does not wait, and he gets great care. They have treated my entire family at one time or another and we are all still alive.

[gratuitous]

5. The private insurer didn't lower costs and provide better care like they promised?

My goodness! I don't think anyone could have seen that coming. Has Ron Paul been notified?

[gkhouston]

8. He's gone to fetch us smelling salts to help with our shock and dismay

over the completely unexpected underperformance of private insurers. The "invisible hand of the market" usually needs to be invisible so the 99% won't see that our collective wallet is being stolen.

[jwirr]

7. I hope Minnesota follows suit. It was crazy to put programs that were working just fine into the

hands of a for-profit private business. By the way Medicaid also covers many of the elderly who are in nursing homes who have already spent most of their savings.