We May Already Know How To Reduce The High Cost Of Covering New Medicaid Enrollees

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ independent Office of the Actuary released its 2014 Actuarial Report on the Financial Outlook for Medicaid. Unlike previous years, this annual report is making headlines because the actuaries project that for 2014 the newly eligible Medicaid expansion population will have costs greater than the non-newly eligible Medicaid population. Continue on to the next paragraph of the report and the actuaries write that a major contributor to this increased cost projection is that states anticipated and, in their managed care contracts, accounted for high first-year costs for these new beneficiaries. We will see whether these projections come to bear in the next actuarial report or whether states in fact overestimated these first-year costs, perhaps leading actuaries to expect that the average per beneficiary cost for the expansion population will be less than the non-expansion population in later years. While we still do not have final figures on how much new Medicaid enrollees spent on medical care in 2014, we do have evidence—including a recent study by Naderah Pourat and coauthors published in the July issue of Health Affairs—that primary care and care coordination can help reduce the initial care costs of Medicaid enrollees entering the health care system for the first time. After all, evidence suggests newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries are healthier and less costly than the current Medicaid population. H...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Equity and Disparities Featured Medicaid and CHIP Organization and Delivery Payment Policy Population Health Public Health ACA Care coordination Coverage Emma Sandoe Enrollment Health Care Coverage Initiative Source Type: blogs