HMO Enrollees Get Better Care Than Medicaid Managed Care

If you are an enrollee in a Medicaid managed care program the chances are that you will receive lower-quality care than somebody in a commercial managed care program, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), October 10th issue. The authors explain "Although enrollment of commercially insured individuals in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) has decreased in recent years, HMOs continue to provide care for an increasing proportion of the Medicaid population. Between 1994 and 2004, enrollment in Medicaid managed care tripled from 7.9 million beneficiaries to more than 27 million beneficiaries. The proportion of Medicaid beneficiaries in managed care increased from 23 percent to more than 60 percent during the same time period." They add that there is not much peer-reviewed literature on the quality of care given within health plans to Medicaid enrollees.

Commercial Managed Care Enrollees Get Better Care Than Medicaid Managed Care Enrollees