- Medicaid officials seek changes to Medically Needy Program, By Jim Saunders, May 8, 2012, Pensacola News Journal: “Florida Medicaid officials have asked the federal government to approve major changes in a program that serves tens of thousands of people with costly medical conditions, seeking to install a type of managed care and require monthly premium payments. The Agency for Health Care Administration, carrying out a 2011 law, requested changes in the state’s Medically Needy program. In a document sent to the federal government in late April, the agency said the proposed changes would improve care for beneficiaries…”
- Private Medicaid providers enrolling in northwest Louisiana, By Melody Brumble, May 8, 2012, Shreveport Times: “Rhonda Matthews hopes Louisiana’s privately run Medicaid program, dubbed Bayou Health, brings more benefits than changes. Matthews quizzed representatives of five health plans at a recent enrollment meeting in Haughton before signing up with Amerigroup. Her sons, ages 16 and 5, have ADHD. She wants them to keep the same doctor and get the same level of care. She’s also covered by Medicaid. Louisiana started working to privatize its Medicaid program in 2010 primarily to save money. In theory, the health plans will provide greater access to preventive and prenatal care and specialists. The savings would come from keeping people with chronic illnesses out of the emergency room and babies out of newborn intensive care units…”
Tag: Privatization
Child Welfare Spending – Nebraska
Child welfare spending to stay high, By Martha Stoddard, April 1, 2012, Omaha World-Herald: “Nebraska’s 2½-year experiment in privatizing child welfare services has yielded one clear result: It forced the state to put more resources into the care of abused and neglected children. Spending shot up when the State Department of Health and Human Services began contracting with private agencies to coordinate child welfare cases. Now, although four of the five contractors are gone and the state has resumed oversight of most cases, child welfare spending is budgeted to remain at a level $35 million higher than before privatization began. State Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha and others said more funding has long been needed for Nebraska’s child welfare system. ‘As an unintended consequence of our journey, we will do what we should have done from the beginning,’ he said, ‘but I think it’s been a too-expensive trip to get there.’ Nebraska officials went into privatization saying they would do it within existing resources. Instead, spending took a $20 million unplanned jump in the first year of the private contracts and grew another $10 million in the second year…”
Child Welfare System – Nebraska
- Lawmakers debate ending child welfare privatization, By Martha Stoddard, February 29, 2012, Omaha World-Herald: “Nebraska lawmakers launched into debate Tuesday about whether to put the brakes on the state’s experiment in child welfare privatization. At issue is whether the state should take back responsibility for managing child welfare cases from the last remaining private contractor. Legislative Bill 961, introduced by the Health and Human Services Committee, would require the change. The bill was introduced before state officials announced that Kansas-based KVC was dropping out of the picture as one of the last two child welfare contractors. KVC stops managing child welfare cases for the state as of Wednesday, leaving the Omaha-based Nebraska Families Collaborative as the state’s only private contractor. Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk warned colleagues to think hard before moving forward on the proposal…”
- Senators advance four child welfare bills but question returning case management to state, By JoAnne Young, February 27, 2012, Lincoln Journal Star: “The Legislature focused Tuesday on repairing the state’s child welfare system. Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell set the tone for two days of debate on a set of five bills to overhaul child welfare reform. ‘Today, we begin the process of building a stable foundation and a bridge to the future for the benefit of the children and families of the state of Nebraska,’ she said. The Legislature proceeded to advance four of the bills — with no senator voting against them — and then, late in the day, started debate on a bill that would return all child welfare case management to the state. That last bill (LB961) could prove to be one of the toughest…”