States, MCOs May Be Poised to Tangle Over Medicaid Rates

August 3

Despite growing, bipartisan calls for more federal Medicaid funding to stem states’ budget shortfalls, such a provision is absent from Senate Republicans’ latest COVID-19 relief bill. And while that omission hints at the next big health care battle in Congress, experts tell AIS Health that another, quieter Medicaid funding conflict is bubbling up at the state level — over how much to pay managed care plans.

Already, there are troubling signs for Medicaid managed care organizations, which cover more than three-quarters of Medicaid beneficiaries. Nevada’s legislature recently passed a fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget — effective starting July 1, 2020 — that cuts Medicaid provider rates by 6%, a move expected to save the state $52.9 million. The cuts will have a small impact on the earnings of Nevada’s three managed care plans, which are owned by Anthem Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Centene Corp., Credit Suisse analyst A.J. Rice pointed out in a July 27 research note.

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Health Plan Weekly

Leslie Small

Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.

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