Tagged: Medicaid Managed Care

The Louisville Medicaid region will now be home to four different managed care operators. State officials announced the change today.

Joining Passport Health Plan is Humana, CoventryCares and WellCare.

WellCare and Coventry already have statewide contracts for Medicaid and Passport has operated in Louisville for years.

Passport officials say they will still try to continue maintain their high level of care, despite no longer holding an exclusive contract for the region. 

After decades of having one company oversee Medicaid, the Louisville area will now have four private Medicaid providers.

The Louisville area was the first part of the state to have Medicaid privatized, and Passport Health Plan has administered the program ever since.

But the rest of the state has since been privatized, and multiple operators compete for patients across the commonwealth.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced today that Passport will now have competition from CoventryCares, WellCare and Humana.

The CEO of a major Medicaid managed care company (MCO) is criticizing Kentucky for the way the state deals with businesses like his.

Michael Neidorff is the CEO of Centene, which operates Kentucky Spirit, one of three statewide MCOs that has managed Medicaid patients for the state since last year.

In a recent call with Wall Street investors, Neidorff criticized Kentucky officials and the mindset they have about what managed care can do for the state.

The highest-ranking Republican in the Kentucky state House is calling on Governor Steve Beshear to reject an expansion of Medicaid set forth in the Affordable Care Act.

The Supreme Court ruling on the healthcare law allows states to opt out of the expansion of the program. House Minority Floor Leader Jeff Hoover wants Beshear to follow other states that have opted out.

Hoover says expanding the program in Kentucky would put an even bigger burden on the state budget, even with managed care operators running the system.