New rule ignites fight over insurer profits

[Panich52]

The Hill

New rule ignites fight over insurer profits
By Peter Sullivan

A sweeping new Obama administration regulation is reigniting the debate over the profits of health insurance companies.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/243272-medicaid-rule-ignites-fight-over-insurer-profits


(damn phone hates new format f/ The Hill than last one. Won't show me anything past headline & picture. Grrr)

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. The key issue to this problem is

that states want to buy "managed care" from private providers and not have to dictate how much money the private sector gets to keep.

Medicaid used to be provided directly to clinics via the state, and it was the state budget that had to be accountable every fiscal year.
The Feds kicked in something like 20% of the total, the states paid 80%.

Now, many states, esp. the Repub. owned ones, have turned public coffers into a windfall for private profit providers.

Note in the article these groups:

*Lindy Hinman, senior vice president at Avalere Health, a consulting firm.

*Dan Durham, interim CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans,

*Jeff Myers, CEO of Medicaid Health Plans of America, a trade group

these groups are making money from Medicaid, or they would not exist.