Medicaid Reform Advocates Coalition Blog

The Medicaid Reform Advocates Coalition is a group of consumer advocacy organizations monitoring the implementation and effects of the Florida Medicaid Reform. MRAC coalition partners represent different constituencies affected by Medicaid Reform. MRAC ‘s mission is to ensure that consumers’ interests are safeguarded as they are enrolled in private managed care plans and that the level of care they receive is adequate and appropriate for their needs. Contact MRAC at medicaidreform@pobox.com.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Georgia Medicaid, PeachCare Beneficiaries To Enroll in HMOs Friday Despite Concerns

Friday, September 01, 2006
Georgia Medicaid, PeachCare Beneficiaries To Enroll in HMOs Friday Despite Concerns Over Partial Rollout of Plan

Georgia's Medicaid and PeachCare programs on Friday will enroll hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries in HMOs "despite complaints that the program has become an administrative and medical nightmare in areas where it has been tried so far," the Florida Times-Union reports (Larrabee, Florida Times-Union, 8/31). Gov. Sonny Perdue's (R) reform plan was implemented on June 1 in the Atlanta, Columbus and Macon areas, where about 600,000 beneficiaries were moved from fee-for-service plans to HMOs. The HMOs are being administered by Amerigroup, Centene and WellCare (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/28). State officials on Wednesday said the complete rollout of the program will occur on Friday as planned, although the total number of Medicaid and PeachCare beneficiaries enrolled in HMOs will be fewer than the 1.2 million originally predicted. Officials said the total number will be only 847,000, in part because the state began checking beneficiaries' citizenship status and incomes in January. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that "[m]any doctors have cited payment and patient-care problems experienced when the managed care program started in metro Atlanta and central Georgia, and they fear they will surface as the program expands this week" (Miller, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/31). A group of Georgia physicians last month filed a lawsuit against the HMOs alleging that they have not paid providers for millions of dollars in outstanding claims (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/17). Critics of the program also say the HMOs have been slow to grant permission for medical treatments (Florida Times-Union, 8/31).









We are interested in hearing from Medicaid Recipients in Broward County and Duval County. Please contact us by email at medicaidreform@pobox.com or by calling Gloria Weiner at the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities,Inc - (954) 967-1493.

www.floridamedicaidreform.org

posted by mdubin @ Friday, September 01, 2006