Tuesday, August 24, 2004
If at first you don't succeed...
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:Medicaid overhaul pushed
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From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:Medicaid overhaul pushed
The state plans to move 1 million low-income Georgians on Medicaid into HMO-like organizations - a cost-cutting tactic representing one of the biggest changes in the government program's history.Perhaps my memory fails me. Wasn't this tried with Medicare in the not-so-distant past, with a poor showing? Didn't many insurers get out of the Medicare HMO business because they lost a great deal of money? What makes Governor Perdue think it will work for the Medicaid population? Do tell. Oh, and it has been tried before:
The plan, unveiled Monday, is being pushed by Gov. Sonny Perdue as a response to spending increases of 10 percent to 12 percent a year in Georgia Medicaid.
Georgia had a voluntary HMO program in the 1990s for Medicaid, but the effort proved unsuccessful at attracting a large number of people willing to enroll.The discussion over the breakfast table this morning found little support for the proposal. With only one orthopedist and half of the OB/GYN's accepting Medicaid nowadays in River City the chances of this being a success is low.
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