I'm still trying to figure out the dark sinister conspiracy you are claiming about Solantic.
You do realize that medicaid isn't like the VA. There are no Medicaid hospitals that the poor are herded into. Medicaid patients see private providers who take Medicaid reimbursement.
I know exactly what's going on. We've been over it time and time again on the muche and on my blog; you just seem to forget.
Remember
this?
In 2005, Jeb had the bright idea (not!) to be among the first to follow his brother George’s edict to make state Medicaid coverage over modeling it like (get this!) a health insurance company, complete with limits on coverage:
Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, both Republicans, have proposed radical changes intended to inject market forces and competition into Medicaid. Under their proposals, the state would give Medicaid recipients a fixed amount of money to buy health care or private insurance.
Under Governor Bush’s proposal, Florida would contribute a fixed amount toward coverage for each Medicaid beneficiary. Patients could use the money to “opt out of Medicaid altogether and purchase health care insurance in the private market,” Mr. Bush said.
(Ironically, today Jeb is on the board of Tenet Healthcare, the same company required to repay the government over 900 million dollars in Medicare and Medicaid overpayments and is plagued by scandal after scandal.)
Even today, Jeb Bush’s failed Medicaid managed care decisions are affecting the State negatively:
”We’ve done the experiment. It has failed,” said Durell Peaden, the Senate’s health care budget chief. “The reports are unsettling. People couldn’t get to specialists, couldn’t get adequate care. And they couldn’t do it cheaply.”
Here's
more on the failed program Scott wants to expand:
The Medicaid Reform Pilot program running in Broward County since 2006 has not improved or increased health care coverage, but has instead become a bureaucratic nightmare with lower costs because of reduced services. That was the consensus of speakers at a Tuesday evening workshop held in Hollywood and organized by Democratic state Rep. Elaine Schwartz. #
The Pilot created a managed-care approach in which Medicaid recipients must choose an HMO or other care-management organization to access services. According to Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Pembroke Park, this is a business model, not a patient-care model. #
State Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, has proposed a bill that would shift the bulk of Florida Medicaid patients into HMOs and other managed-care plans. #
The managed-care approach is precisely what Broward residents said has not worked at Tuesday’s workshop. #
“I am outraged that after five years Medicaid Reform has not improved care in Broward and we are talking about expansion statewide,” Dr. Alan Aaron Elkin, vice chairman of the OB/GYN department at Hollywood Memorial Hospital and chairman of the Broward County Medical Association, told participants. #
In a March 2010 letter to Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, Elkin wrote, “Since Medicaid Reform was implemented in Broward County in 2006, a large number of my Medicaid patients have experienced significantly greater difficulties in accessing timely and quality care, including pre-natal care for which timing is critical.”
As far as Scott's involvement, you don't see a conflict of interest? How many billions will he make if everyone on Medicaid goes to Managed Care? What if Solantic got an exclusive contract to see the MA patients?
I've said before Medicaid needs reform, but not this way. Let's try modernizing the claim process, making it less difficult for providers to get paid first. Then go from there...
