DES MOINES – Today, at the Administration’s weekly press conference, Gov. Branstad, Lt. Gov. Reynolds and representatives from each of the three managed care organizations (MCOs) tasked with providing health care delivery for Iowa Medicaid patients, highlighted a number of value-added services that each MCO is now providing for those patients. Medicaid Modernization officially launched on Friday, April 1.
Cynthia MacDonald of Amerigroup Iowa, Inc., Cheryl Harding from Amerihealth Caritas Iowa Inc., and Kim Foltz from UnitedHealthCare Plan of the River Valley, Inc., each talked about specific benefits that their respective MCO is offering now under managed care that patients would not have access to under Old Medicaid. Some of these benefits include pregnancy and prenatal care programs, a 24-hour nurse hotline, boys and girls club memberships, weight management programs and tobacco cessation programs.
“Benefits for Medicaid patients do not change under managed care. Additionally, there are over 80 additional value-added benefits that Medicaid patients now have access to,” said Branstad. “These are exactly the types of additional services that are going to make lasting, meaningful impacts in the health of our Medicaid population.”
Lt. Gov. Reynolds added, “Through managed care, Iowans’ health care delivery will improve by offering preventatives services above and beyond what was available to them under old Medicaid. By reducing emergency room visits, hospitalizations and surgeries, and eliminating duplicative services, patients will have better health outcomes; which has been our goal from Day 1.”
To view a MCO comparison chart of value-added services, please click here.
For a resource on MCO-specific materials, please click here.
Ask a nurse is already 24/7. Anyone can call that. The rest of these “add ons” will be just that – costs will be added on to the taxpayer and health care user.
When I click to see the chart, nothing happens. My clicker is broken. 🙁
There us nothing wrong with your “clicker”.
The guru behind Breakthrough Web Design screwed the pooch on the link.
People on medicaid get better health care than those that pay for insurance. It’s not right. They pay no copays for doctors visits or medications. Even if they had to pay just $1 for doctors visits and prescriptions maybe the system wouldn’t be abused so much.
I think you are mistaken about the copay requirement. I believe most providers require a copay of just a dollar or two.
I pay for insurance. When i go to the doctor, my copay is $20. And I also have copays for prescriptions ranging anywhere from $4-25. And I have health issues, and alot of copays for medicine.
Not for medicaid they don’t. They don’t get a co-pay for medicare either.
I think you would be better off pushing for better insurance for everyone, including yourself, rather than saying “mine is crappy, so medicaid should be even worse”.
And btw–medicaid’s not quite the great thing you think it is.
Thanks to Obamacare all insurance is crappy and expensive.