N.C. governor proposes managed care move for state's Medicaid program

North Carolina Gov. Pay McCrory is proposing to privatize Medicaid to save money in the $13 billion program while stakeholders in Texas, Florida and California also consider changes to their Medicaid plans.

The Associated Press: N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Offers Plan To Privatize Medicaid Care
North Carolina's $13 billion Medicaid program needs a big dose of private competition that will come from paying a handful of statewide managed-care providers to deliver medical, mental, and dental care to the elderly and disabled for a stable cost, Gov. Pat McCrory said Wednesday. McCrory and state Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos unveiled a proposal that would largely privatize management of Medicaid while keeping ultimate responsibility in state hands (4/4).

North Carolina Health News: McCrory Proposes Medicaid Overhaul
Gov. Pat McCrory rolled out his plan for revamping the state's Medicaid program Wednesday morning, describing a managed care plan that could lead to the privatization of the program that serves more than 1.5 million people with disabilities, the low-income elderly, pregnant women and children. The governor and Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos said that too often Medicaid recipients receive uncoordinated care that doesn't serve them well (Hoban, 4/4).

The Texas Tribune: Zerwas: House Medicaid Bill Will Include Williams' Plan
State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, confirmed Wednesday that he will incorporate into his own Medicaid reform bill a proposal by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, to use premium tax revenue to subsidize private health policies for the uninsured (Ramshaw and Aaronson, 4/3).

Health News Florida: Now, The Teeny Weeny Bean Plan
What kind of health coverage can you buy for $20 to $30 a month? "You can't," says John Sinibaldi, an independent broker in Seminole. That may sum up the real-world prospects for Health Choice Plus, the plan for extremely low-income uninsured Florida adults that State Sen. Aaron Bean's Health Policy Committee approved Tuesday along party lines (Gentry, 4/3).

California Healthline: Public Involvement In Managed Care Licensing?
One of the bills that stirred up opposition from health plans was a proposal by Assembly member Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) to open the managed care licensing process to public scrutiny and input. "We know that millions more Californians will attain coverage under the Affordable Care Act, along with millions more in the impending Medi-Cal expansion, and [the effort] to move current enrollees in Healthy Families and other programs into Medi-Cal managed care," Dickinson said, "making it an opportune time to apply for managed care licensure." Dickinson said there have been 19 new applicants for managed care licenses in the last three years and he expects that number to rise. With so many state beneficiaries moving into managed care plans, he said there should be more public involvement in the licensing process (Gorn, 4/3).