…until the individual exchange markets, one of the key provisions under Obamacare, open for enrollment.
An article featured in Kaiser Health News and the Washington Post discusses Kentucky’s chaotic statewide implementation of Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) in 2011:
Experts warn that what happened in Kentucky should be a cautionary tale for other states that rush to switch large numbers of people in Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor and disabled, to managed care in hopes of cutting costs and improving quality. Nearly 30 million Americans on Medicaid now belong to a private health plan, as states move away from the traditional program that paid doctors and hospitals for each service they provided.
This article parallels the John Locke Foundation and the Foundation for Government Accountability’s joint paper, “Lessons Learned: How the Partnership for a Healthy North Carolina Avoids Kentucky’s Medicaid Reform Mistakes”. Kentucky faced three major pitfalls with its transition to a statewide Medicaid managed care program in 2011:
1. Senseless administrative burdens afflicting providers’ abilities to practice efficiently
2. Lengthy payment delays to doctors and hospitals
3. Poor implementation strategies resulting in failed development of provider networks
