I’ve been getting literature in the mail about new managed care plans available to people with disabilities on Minnesota’s Medical Assistance program. These voluntary plans tout their ability to offer care coordination, quick access to specialists, and all of the other basic Medicaid services. Enrollees would not have to pay the usual Medicaid co-pays for prescription drugs, which might make this option particularly attractive for people with low incomes.
The disability community has a longstanding suspicion of managed care that is rooted in the fear that managed care organizations will restrict choice and access to services, particularly personal care assistance. These plans sidestep those concerns by excluding personal care and private duty nursing services in the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) sphere. My wonkish instincts tell me that managed care is becoming the preferred model for administering public health care programs and home care services will eventually be included in future versions of these plans. But it’s going to be some time before the FFS model is even partially abandoned.
I don’t mind managing my own care, but I could see myself choosing one of these plans if my medical needs became more complex.
Aren’t managed care organizations as bad as hmo’s in terms of quality? They restrict care, lump different diagnoses in categories together, and add considerably to the wait times for diagnoses and treatment? Any conglomerated response is a poor one for living things. Or, ‘conglomerating is obfuscating’.