What Makes a Good Medicaid Managed Care Plan?
August 16, 2016 · NCQA Communications
What makes a good Medicaid Managed Care plan? Good question. Chelsea Keenan, health reporter at The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa asked NCQA because we are widely known as industry leaders in the area of health care measurement, analysis and ratings.
Medicaid Managed Care
In April, Iowa transitioned the state’s $5 billion Medicaid program to three managed care plans: UnitedHealthcare of the River Valley, Amerigroup Iowa and AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa. Now that those private insurers are responsible for Iowa’s Medicaid beneficiaries, Chelsea wanted to report on how those programs are rated.
NCQAs Health Plan Ratings
Chelsea spoke to our Kristine Toppe, NCQA’s Director of State Affairs, for details on our state-level ratings. NCQA analyzes over 1300 health plans across the country and rates them according to consumer satisfaction, prevention and treatment. These ratings are a key resource to consumers to compare plans and choose what’s best for themselves and their family.
Although the data for the Iowa ratings have not yet been collected and therefore won’t be available for some time, Chelsea took a look at how the health plans selected by the state are performing elsewhere. She includes a detailed breakdown on how the three MCOs operating in Iowa have done in some other states in her article. For more see Chelsea’s article, Rating Iowa’s Medicaid Health Plans.
