Feds give FL permission to privatize long-term Medicaid care [View all]

[Baitball Blogger]

TALLAHASSEE – The Obama administration Monday gave Florida permission to transfer part of its Medicaid program to private health-care companies beginning this summer.

The state will enroll 87,000 Medicaid patients --- low-income seniors needing long-term care – in one of five health-care plans that were selected last month to cover patients living in 11 districts around the state. The companies include American Eldercare, Sunshine State Health Plan, United HealthCare of Florida, Coventry Health Care of Florida and Amerigroup Florida.

In 2011, the Legislature approved a shift from fee-for-service to managed care for most of its 3.3 million Medicaid population, in hopes of curbing soaring costs of the $22-billion program. But the shift requires a "waiver" from the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration, which pays about 58 percent of the program's total cost.

Monday's announcement allowed that change only for a relative handful of elderly patients – the Agency for Health Care Administration estimated it would cost $2.4 billion over the next year -- but lawmakers saw it as a critical first step.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/fl-medicaid-managed-care-approved-20130204,0,5810853.story