Article here: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/feds-ok-floridas-proposed-privatizing-of-medicaid/nWTSB/
From the article:
The federal approval, which would let the state move almost all 3.4 million low-income and elderly Floridians now served by Medicaid into managed care, does have several yet unmet conditions, including that the state must hire an independent entity to monitor the process and have a robust plan to measure the quality of patient care in the managed care program, according to The Associated Press.
The conditions are meant to resolve problems in a pilot program that has been running in Broward County, Duval County and three of its neighbors since 2006.
Federal health officials insisted the state agree to tangible quality measurements using real-time data that evaluate whether the program is actually improving patient care along the way as promised, not just at yearly benchmarks, according to The Associated Press. The state must also hold regular meeting with health advocates, patients and insurers and hire an ombudsmen to oversee the program that involves tens of thousands of elderly, long-term care patients, according to a letter sent by federal health officials to the state.
I am deeply skeptical. I see this as a plan to create private profits by denying health care to Florida's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Florida is ready to double down on the "free market" health care model that currently provides Americans with the repulsive combination of the world's most expensive health care system and outcomes (lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality, for example) inferior to those of most modern industrialized democracies.
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