By Brenda Gazzar
Code Wack Podcast, March 30, 2026
Today, most people on Medicaid get their care through private insurers called Managed Care Organizations, or MCOs – like Aetna and UnitedHealthcare.
Critics say these companies add layers of bureaucracy that make it harder for patients—most of them low-income—to get care. They discourage physicians from accepting Medicaid patients by making them jump through hoops to get treatment pre-authorizations, or even to get paid.
Are Managed Care companies making health care more expensive, not less? How are some states reacting? Are legislators starting to wake up and see through the hype? Some are.
All this and more is discussed in a recent report from Physicians for a National Health Program, Removing the Middlemen from Medicaid. To unpack it, we spoke with Dr. Alankrita Olson, a public health physician and PNHP board member who advocates for a single-payer healthcare system.
This is the second of a two-part series.
Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!
