Monday, December 1, 2008

Medicaid Reform in Florida

Categories: Florida, Medicaid

The Florida Medicaid program has been running a pilot program in 5 counties, enrolling more people than 12 states have in their entire programs--and with good results, says Jeb Bush, the state's former governor.

Writing in the Tampa Tribune, Bush explains the disadvantages of old Medicaid and the advantages of new Medicaid .

Key to the new system is giving payments to managed care companies based on the expected risk of covering each individual, and giving each enrolled person or his representative control over how health care dollars are spent.

The pilot program, now running for 29 months, offers lower costs and higher-quality services.