St. Paul, Minn. – On Friday, Dec. 1, the Minnesota House Health Care Financing and Policy Committee held a hearing to hear from several experts about Medicaid managed care. Presenters described Minnesota's complex system for providing medical services to Minnesotans with Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and MinnesotaCare.
Managed care is a complex system for providing medical assistance and medical services to Minnesotans with MinnesotaCare. The system has been in place since 1985, and nine private organizations currently contract to provide health insurance for a flat fee per enrollee. The system is supposed to save taxpayers money and improve health outcomes, but little research shows whether Minnesotans are receiving enough benefits from public dollars and public health. do not have. The Committee learned that these managed care organizations (MCOs) achieved record profits in their Medicaid operations in 2022.
“Lawmakers of both parties want to provide effective health care services to Minnesotans as efficiently as possible, and we will continue to consider the best ways to achieve these goals. ” said committee chairwoman Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL, Rochester). . “We can save money and improve the health of Minnesotans by providing care in other ways. I will continue to work closely with my colleagues and policy experts to develop the best policies for our state. We will formulate it.”
Approximately 1.4 million people in Minnesota, or approximately 18% of the population, are enrolled in medical assistance, and approximately 100,000 people are enrolled in MinnesotaCare. Minnesota spends about $7.7 billion annually on Medicaid, making it her second-largest spending category in the state budget.
The experts who attended the committee were:
Dr. Ezra Golberstein, Associate Professor of Health Policy, University of Minnesota
Dr. Lynn A. Blewett, Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Center for State Health Care Access Data Assistance at the University of Minnesota
Sayeh Nikpay, Ph.D., Health Economist, University of Minnesota
Alan Baumgarten, JD, M.A., Independent Healthcare Analyst
Kathryn Costanza, Medicaid Health Program Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
The full text of the hearing is House information YouTube page.
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