Medicaid Managed Care Delivers Value and Efficiency to States
Findings from the literature demonstrate that Medicaid managed care improves quality, enhances access to care and individuals’ experience, and helps states manage costs. Medicaid managed care offers a successful foundation on which to build future Medicaid reform efforts.
Today, more than 60 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in managed care plans, and states continue to expand enrollment in plans. Among other goals, states are turning to managed care to improve care for high-cost, high-need populations such as individuals who need long-term services and supports. Enrollment in managed care also grew following the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid to low-income working age adults.
As federal and state policymakers consider approaches to reform and modernize the Medicaid program, it is important to explore whether existing managed care programs have delivered the expected innovations, improvements in outcomes, and cost savings that states expected.