DES MOINES — Iowa is one of 38 states that over the past few years radically changed the way they run Medicaid. In Iowa, the state moved about 600,000 people on the government-run health program into care that is managed by for-profit insurance companies.
Then-Gov. Terry Branstad said that the private companies would save the state money.
But it has been a rocky transition, especially for people like Neal Siegel.
Siegel is one of six disabled Iowans suing the state, alleging that Medicaid managed care, as it is known, deprives thousands of Iowans with disabilities the right to live safely in their homes.
Medicaid serves people with disabilities, low-income people and people in nursing homes. A combination of federal and state funds pays for it. It covers 74 million people across the country these days, about half of whom are in Medicaid managed care.
Medicaid recipients do not sign up for insurance through the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Siegel, a former financial consultant, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident when he was riding a bicycle four years ago, and he was left with a severe brain injury. He uses a wheelchair and can barely speak.
“I would probably put Neal at about 98 percent cognitive (awareness) of what’s going on around him, but unfortunately (he’s) not able to articulate it,” said Siegel’s girlfriend, Beth Wargo. “So it’s being trapped inside your own body.”
After the accident, Siegel qualified for Medicaid. He lived in a rehabilitation center for a while, and the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in June, says he was the victim of abuse and neglect while there.
Eventually he moved home with Wargo, where he’s totally reliant on caregivers to assist him with all the activities of daily life.
Then last year, Wargo said, Siegel got a letter in the mail from AmeriHealth Caritas, the company that manages his care. Siegel’s budget for home help had been slashed by 50 percent, Wargo said.
Siegel’s face lit up as Wargo talked about the lawsuit, and he said “Oh yeah” when she mentioned how happy they were that they could be part of it.
Cyndy Miller is the legal director with Disability Rights Iowa, the advocacy group that initiated the lawsuit.
“The system is too stressed right now with the way it’s being managed, and it’s not healthy for individuals with chronic or serious disabilities,” Miller said.
According to the lawsuit, the company claimed that spending on Siegel’s case was cut because it had exceeded a limit set in state policy. A spokesman for AmeriHealth Caritas said the company could not comment on ongoing litigation. The state has asked for the lawsuit to be dropped.
In addition to the suit, complaints about Iowa Medicaid from hospitals, doctors and patients have spiked.
Iowa’s Department of Human Services director, Jerry Foxhoven, defended moving the entire Medicaid population to managed care. He said more taxpayer dollars will be saved under private management.
But he said his agency is willing to make changes, especially for people like Siegel with serious disabilities.
“Everything’s always on the table. We’re always looking at everything to say ‘How do we best serve the people we’re trying to serve and be the best stewards of taxpayer dollars?’ ” Foxhoven said.
For their part, the three companies with contracts in Iowa said in statements that the first 18 months of Medicaid managed care have been successful. But they also have told state officials that reimbursement rates were based on deeply flawed cost estimates provided to them before the project began.
They are now negotiating to get millions of dollars more in state funding.
So where are the savings? So far, no state has actually done a comprehensive review of whether private companies actually save Medicaid dollars, said Kelly Whitener, an associate professor with Georgetown University who studies managed care.
“You’d really need to be able to see ‘Are you saving money overall or not?’ and if you are spending less money ‘Are you suppressing services that are needed? Or are you really finding efficiencies and only delivering care that families really need?’ ” Whitener said.
For now, those questions don’t really have answers.
Meanwhile, Iowa has to balance its books. New Gov. Kim Reynolds — like Branstad, a Republican — is going to tap more than $260 million of the state’s reserve fund this year, and officials expect next year’s budget will be even tougher to negotiate.
Medicaid funding is likely to continue to be a large part of the discussion.