Thirty percent of Floridians enrolled in Medicaid reform said they didn't realize it, and more than half didn't know they could opt out, a new report says.
In 2006, Florida began transferring the care of more Medicaid beneficiaries to HMOs and other managed-care organizations. The cost-cutting initiative remains a pilot program in Broward, Duval, Nassau, Baker and Clay counties, but many lawmakers want to expand it statewide.
A selling point of the program is the choice it offers beneficiaries between managed-care plans, but a study of Broward and Duval enrollees revealed that 20 percent of beneficiaries did not know they could choose; even more did not realize that benefits varied between plans. More than 60 percent did not know they could opt out by using their Medicaid funding to buy private insurance. Thirty percent did not know they were in the program.
Enrollees who fail to choose the right plan may be denied needed care, "which could have major health consequences," the researchers from the Urban Institute, Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Florida wrote. Their study, appearing in Health Affairs, drew on a survey conducted in 2006-2007, when the program first took effect.
It's hard to tell how much confusion owed to the program's newness, said Kaiser Family Foundation analyst Samantha Artiga. Many beneficiaries being both low-income and chronically ill, "it will be important to continue to track how well they are able to engage in making a plan choice."
State Medicaid officials had not yet reviewed the report and had no comment.
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