HMOs to stay in Florida Medicaid reform program after agency for health care administration agrees to lower payment cuts

Three Florida HMOs have said they will continue participating in a "Medicaid Reform" plan after the Agency for Health Care Administration agreed to reduce payments by an average of 3% on Sept. 1, instead of 5% as previously announced, Florida Health News reports (Florida Health News, 9/2).

In letters to the state agency last month, Amerigroup Florida, UnitedHealthcare of Florida and WellCare Health Plans' HealthEase of Florida and WellCare of Florida -- which cover 60% of people enrolled in Florida "Medicaid Reform" plans -- said they would leave the project by Dec. 1 and asked to be assigned no new members.

The reform plan, which began in 2006 and operates in five counties, requires that most non-institutionalized Medicaid beneficiaries be enrolled in private plans that carry the risk of providing their care (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/29).

Kent Jenkins, a spokesperson for Amerigroup, said the smaller payment cut is "just enough" to keep the insurer in the program (LaMendola, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 8/30). HealthEase and Staywell also notified AHCA that they will continue to participate in the pilot program. UnitedHealthcare was the only insurers that had threatened to withdrawal from the program and that had not rescinded its decision by the deadline on Tuesday (Florida Health News, 9/2).