Although the 2019 legislative session is closed, Carroll-area residents still had many questions for our local legislators, Senator Mark Segebart and House Representative Brian Best. At the final Carroll Chamber of Commerce forum, as with nearly every other forum of the year, questions about Iowa’s Managed Care Organization (MCO) model for Medicaid services was broached. This time the question was about whether Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced a replacement for United Healthcare, who left the MCO pool at the end of March. Best says he is unsure.
There has been no announcement yet of what company would be added to help cover the healthcare-related expenses of the more than 400,000 Iowans on Medicaid. Segebart says a third MCO may not be necessary.
Segebart adds he believes this would provide optimum performance.
The two remaining MCOs in the state are Amerigroup of Iowa and Centene Corporation. UnitedHealthcare cited funding and program challenges that created losses for the company. A final breakdown of negotiations with Gov. Reynolds resulted in the pullout announced on Friday March 26. Former governor, Terry Branstad, initiated the MCO system in 2016 as a means to save taxpayers money. Since then, it has been plagued with claims that there has been a reduction of services, inconsistent payments to providers and little evidence of savings overall.
