Posted on 02/04/2022 1:01:36 PM PST by nickcarraway
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has negotiated a secret deal to give Kaiser Permanente a special Medicaid contract that would allow the health care behemoth to expand its reach in California and largely continue selecting the enrollees it wants, which other health plans say leaves them with a disproportionate share of the program’s sickest and costliest patients.
The deal, hammered out behind closed doors between Kaiser Permanente and senior officials in Newsom’s office, could complicate a long-planned and expensive transformation of Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, which covers roughly 14 million low-income Californians.
It has infuriated executives of other managed-care insurance plans in Medi-Cal, who say they stand to lose hundreds of thousands of patients and millions of dollars a year. The deal allows KP to limit enrollment primarily to its previous enrollees, except in the case of foster kids and people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medi-Cal.
Violent sex offender release to Bonny Doon appealed “It has caused a massive amount of frenzy,” said Jarrod McNaughton, CEO of the Inland Empire Health Plan, which covers about 1.5 million Medi-Cal enrollees in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “All of us are doing our best to implement the most transformational Medi-Cal initiative in state history, and to put all this together without a public process is very disconcerting.”
Linnea Koopmans, CEO of the Local Health Plans of California, echoed McNaughton’s concerns.
Insurance plans got wind of the backroom talks when broad outlines of the deal were leaked days before the state briefed their executives Thursday.
Dr. Bechara Choucair, Kaiser Permanente’s chief health officer, argued in a prepared written response on behalf of KP that because it operates both as a health insurer and a health care provider, KP should be treated differently than other commercial health plans that participate in
(Excerpt) Read more at santacruzsentinel.com ...
What????
The Kaiser here in California has far, far more political clout than has the effectively “outlawed” Republican Party.
Translated, “kaiser permanente” means “permanent emperor”. Just noticed that. The tin foil must be getting tight.
Hey California idiots. You had a chance to get rid of Gavin Nobrain and you blew it. Try again.
Can not be repeated enough.
The latest recall was a waste of time. I gave $100 and carried a sign. Not good enough. Pick your battles my friends.
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