Des Moines Register
The federal government’s former top Medicaid administrator wants to invest in Iowa’s controversial Medicaid managed-care program. So does one of the country’s largest health-care companies. That news came Monday as state officials disclosed they had received two bids from firms that want to help run Iowa’s $5 billion Medicaid program, which covers health care for a fifth of Iowans.
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A national expert said she wasn’t surprised to hear that Medicaid management firms would bid on a contract in a state that another company abandoned as a money-loser. “These companies go in and out of certain states, and some seem to think they’re better than others at managing risk,” said Kelly Whitener, a researcher at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families in Washington, D.C. Whitener added that as one of the biggest players nationally, Centene might have decided it has the resources to weather some losses before starting to turn a profit in Iowa. She had never heard of Trusted Health Plan.
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