Opinion: Too Much Risk in Medicaid Contracts

From Betsy McNamara, a Concord resident, from the Concord Monitor.

CONCORD, N.H. -- In a February column I urged the governor and Executive Council to delay voting on the managed-care contracts for New Hampshire's Medicaid system. It was too fast, I argued. The contracts hadn't been made public yet, and we need time to see what's in them in order to make an educated decision.

These are, after all, the largest contracts in New Hampshire history. For $2.2 billion the state will outsource all of its management of Medicaid - the health insurance program for people who are low-income and for people who have a disability - to three different managed-care companies.
The Executive Council did delay its vote on the contracts, twice. We've now had a month to review the hundreds of pages that will dictate the kind of care my child with a disability can expect to receive as an adult.
The news is not good.