The Cure

To hear the good ole boys in the State Senate tell it they’re going to cure all our Medicaid ills: No more soaring costs. Better care. Budgets that balance. No more meltdowns. MCOs, they say, will heal our wounds and stop our hemorrhaging.

If that sounds too good to be true, well, take a look around.

Down in Florida top MCO executives were convicted of ‘scheming to rip-off Medicaid.’ The MCO paid $80 million in criminal penalties and $137 million in civil penalties (for fraud).

In Illinois, state officials lambasted MCOs for providing ‘abysmal’ care to patients and one MCO, Amerigroup paid a whopping $225 million fine to the federal government and Illinois – because it “avoided enrolling pregnant women, unhealthy patients and submitted thousands of false claims.”

In Ohio, another MCO was fined $26 million.

But none of those foibles have fazed the good ole boys in the Senate. MCOs, they insist, are the cure.

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Carter Wrenn

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The Cure

To hear the good ole boys in the State Senate tell it they’re going to cure all our Medicaid ills: No more soaring costs. Better care. Budgets that balance. No more meltdowns. MCOs, they say, will heal our wounds and stop our hemorrhaging.

If that sounds too good to be true, well, take a look around.

Down in Florida top MCO executives were convicted of ‘scheming to rip-off Medicaid.’ The MCO paid $80 million in criminal penalties and $137 million in civil penalties (for fraud).

In Illinois, state officials lambasted MCOs for providing ‘abysmal’ care to patients and one MCO, Amerigroup paid a whopping $225 million fine to the federal government and Illinois – because it “avoided enrolling pregnant women, unhealthy patients and submitted thousands of false claims.”

In Ohio, another MCO was fined $26 million.

But none of those foibles have fazed the good ole boys in the Senate. MCOs, they insist, are the cure.

Avatar photo

Carter Wrenn

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Archives