“More than 300,000 Kentuckians are expected to be newly eligible for healthcare coverage through Medicaid beginning in January 2014,” Audrey Tayse Haynes, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services secretary, said in a news release.
Another 540,000 who are already Medicaid members will be able to choose from Anthem, Humana or Passport's plans next July, or they can select to stay with their current health coverage provider. Coventry Health Care and WellCare already serve the region as MCOs
In April of last year, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Lexington, sued the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Coventry and Kentucky Spirit Health Plan—another MCO—for failing to make timely reimbursements. And nearly a year later, after Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed a bill designed to help healthcare providers receive prompt payments, the governor issued his own plan for resolving payer-provider payment disputes.
Beshear gave the Department of Insurance the responsibility for reviewing payment complaints. The plan, announced in April, also requires insurance regulators to perform targeted audits of the state's MCOs and arranges for forums in which providers, government representatives and payers can discuss payment concerns and suggest program improvements.
Kentucky elected in November 2011 to expand its managed-care program to cover the entire state, estimating that its expansion could save the state approximately $1.3 billion over a three-year period.
Follow Rachel Landen on Twitter: @MHrlanden
