Medicaid Privatization – Iowa

Will Iowa’s poor face Kansan fate of Medicaid denials?, By Jason Clayworth, January 10, 2016, Des Moines Register: “Two of the corporations Iowa has picked to manage its Medicaid program face new accusations of trying to pad their profits by systematically denying payments to medical providers serving poor and disabled people in Kansas. Similar allegations of denied payments and unjust delays hounded both companies for years in other states.  The companies — UnitedHealthcare and Amerigroup — have each paid tens of thousands of dollars to settle similar problems in other states, a Des Moines Register Investigation has found.  But the new accusations in Kansas are particularly relevant to Iowa because the model used by Gov. Terry Branstad’s administration for privatized Medicaid management is similar to the Kansas plan in many ways, critics contend…”