Question Abound in New Hampshire Over Privately Managed Medicaid

While the state of New Hampshire decides whether to approve its largest vendor contract ever -- $2.3 billion to hire three companies to manage the care of some 140,000 Medicaid recipients over three years starting in December -- questions still remain over how a managed care program would work, both financially and in terms of providing health services.
Among the questions:
• Would the state really save $30 million in the first year the program is launched -- a figure already written in the budget -- and even more in the coming years?
• Would providers get paid on time (especially at first), and would that payment be enough for them to participate in the program at all?
• Would the care of recipients -- particularly the developmentally disabled and elderly in nursing homes --improve or suffer?