By Kay Tillow
Letters, The Lexington (Ky.) Herald, July 27, 2011
The Commonwealth Fund has published a June 2011 study of Medicaid managed care plans. The news is not good, but it is not surprising.
This study found that “publicly traded plans that focused primarily on Medicaid enrollees paid out the lowest percentage of their Medicaid premium revenues in medical expenses and reported the highest percentage in administrative expenses.”
The study by M.J. McCue and M.H. Bailit also found that the for-profit plans scored lower on quality, preventive care, treatment of chronic conditions, members’ access to care and customer service.
Kentucky has just handed over the care of our most vulnerable citizens to such companies. What do we expect to happen when for-profit companies are paid a flat rate per person? There will be a built-in financial incentive to boost profits by denying care.
When will we learn what the rest of the industrialized world learned long ago ā that health care is too precious to be entrusted to profit-making enterprises? Profit-seeking inevitably distorts care and diverts resources from patients to investors.
We could cover everyone while reining in the costs if we would move to a single-payer system as embodied in HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act. We have to stiffen our spines, stand up to corporations and get it done.
Kay Tillow is coordinator of the All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care, which builds union support for H.R. 676. She lives in Louisville, Ky.
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/27/1825368/letters-to-editor-july-27.html#ixzz1TKMJRmcm