Many enrollees in Florida's Medicaid reform program have had a difficult time choosing a plan, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The state's reform aims to encourage consumer choice and market competition by giving health plans new authority to vary benefits and having enrollees choose among the different plans, but about three in 10 enrollees were not aware that they needed to make this health plan choice, and over half of those who were aware reported difficulty making a plan choice, according to the study, conducted during the first year of the state's reform effort (2006/2007) and released on October 14, 2008.
In 2006, Florida became one of the first states to implement a competitive consumer-choice model in its Medicaid program. Florida's program allows private health plans to offer Medicaid enrollees a choice of plans with different benefit packages, rather than offering a uniform state-determined Medicaid benefit package.
Three-quarters of the enrollees who were unaware of their need to choose a plan said that they had not been told so by the state, suggesting that they either did not receive, did not read or did not understand the state's letter and other communications about their transition, conclude the study's researchers at the Urban Institute, Kaiser and the University of Florida.
The brief, `Florida Medicaid Reform Waiver: Early Findings and Current Status,' is available at: http://www.kff.org/medicaid/kcmu101408pkg.cfm.
Source: CCH Washington Bureau, Oct. 14, 2008.
For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH® Medicare and Medicaid Guide.
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