Large managed care plans are getting ready to sign up between 15 million and 20 million new Medicaid enrollees to Medicaid scheduled to start in 2014 under the healthcare reform law, according to a report by American Medical News.
New entrants into Medicaid like Aetna, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint will contend with Medicaid managed care organizations like Amerigroup, WellCare and Molina Healthcare.
While Medicaid is seen as a money-losing proposition, the new patients might be more profitable because many of them will be childless adults. Also, mainstream insurers need enrollees to make up for losses in employer-sponsored enrollees, and Medicaid is better than nothing.
Plans, will however, walk away from state Medicaid programs if they are not making money. For example, WellPoint left the Ohio and Nevada Medicaid programs in 2008, saying payments were not actuarially sound.
Read the American Medical News report on Medicaid.
Read more coverage on Medicaid:
- Texas Governor Backs Away From Plans to Exit Medicaid, Following State Report
- New GOP Governors Want More Control of Medicaid from Congress
- CMS Proposes to Let States Implement Medicaid RACs in April
New entrants into Medicaid like Aetna, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint will contend with Medicaid managed care organizations like Amerigroup, WellCare and Molina Healthcare.
While Medicaid is seen as a money-losing proposition, the new patients might be more profitable because many of them will be childless adults. Also, mainstream insurers need enrollees to make up for losses in employer-sponsored enrollees, and Medicaid is better than nothing.
Plans, will however, walk away from state Medicaid programs if they are not making money. For example, WellPoint left the Ohio and Nevada Medicaid programs in 2008, saying payments were not actuarially sound.
Read the American Medical News report on Medicaid.
Read more coverage on Medicaid:
- Texas Governor Backs Away From Plans to Exit Medicaid, Following State Report
- New GOP Governors Want More Control of Medicaid from Congress
- CMS Proposes to Let States Implement Medicaid RACs in April