When Mike Warren became the president and CEO of Birmingham-based Children's of Alabama in 2008, he thought he could fix Medicaid, according to a May 3 article by NPR affiliate WBHM.
He looked at how he developed a rate-setting process when he worked in the utility industry that removed a lot of the politics and improved transparency. He thought he could do something similar with Medicaid.
Medicaid was more complicated than he could have imagined, he told the publication. Not only is it highly political because it uses public dollars, it's split between federal and state levels. Someone on the local level can have little effect, he said.
Thirteen years later, as he prepares for his retirement in June, he looks back at this aspiration as "unbelievable naiveté on my part," Mr. Warren said.
Mr. Warren has been outspoken about creating more long-term, sustainable funding for Alabama's Medicaid program, as it currently runs on a year-to-year funding cycle.
Medicaid in Alabama serves 500,000 children, and three-quarters of Medicaid recipients are under the age of 18. At Children's of Alabama, 60 percent of its patient population is Medicaid-eligible, Mr. Warren said in a letter he co-authored to Alabama's Medicaid commissioner after she cut the program's budget in 2017.
He believes the state funding for Medicaid is a "Band-Aid approach" compared to working for a long-term program goal with sustainable funding.
Discussions are arising on expanding Medicaid in Alabama again. Although this won't affect Children's of Alabama's bottom line because its patients are already covered by insurance plans, Mr. Warren still thinks Medicaid should be expanded to provide coverage to many adults who can't afford insurance now.
"Healthier parents, I think, will make for healthier kids, and that will be good for Alabama," Mr. Warren said.