Florida's Medicaid reform program aims to encourage consumer choice and market competition by giving health plans the authority to vary benefits and have enrollees choose among the different plans, but nearly 30 percent of the enrollees weren't aware of their choices, and more than half of those who were aware reported difficulty making a choice, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
These findings were released in a Web article published in (ITALICS) Health Affairs (END ITALICS) and based on the Kaiser Family Foundation's 2006/2007 survey of Florida Medicaid beneficiaries, conducted during the first year of the state's reform effort. The study was conducted by Kaiser, The Urban Institute and the University of Florida.
"The success of consumer-choice models such as that being tested by Florida's Medicaid Reform demonstration hinge on the ability to translate complicated healthcare information for consumers, and then help consumers use that information to make informed healthcare decisions," the article stated.
According to the study, three-quarters of the enrollees who were unaware of their need to choose a plan said they hadn't been told so by the state - suggesting they either didn't receive, didn't read or didn't understand the state's letter and other communications about the transition.
"Without a well-informed consumer, a fundamental piece of the competitive model is missing, jeopardizing hoped-for efficiencies and cost savings," said the authors.
In 2006, Florida became one of the first states to implement a competitive consumer-choice model in its Medicaid program, beginning with a pilot project in Broward and Duval counties.
Florida's program allows private health plans to offer Medicaid enrollees a choice of plans with different benefit packages, rather than offering a uniform state-determined Medicaid benefit package. Other states (Idaho, Kentucky and West Virginia) have implemented elements of benefit variation or consumer choice in their Medicaid programs.
The study surveyed enrollees in the two pilot counties during the first year of the Florida Medicaid reform program. The survey found that more than 40 percent of the enrollees appear to have been assigned to a reform plan by the state, rather than choosing their own plan.
Survey findings indicate that among the group who were aware of their need to choose a new plan, more than half found it hard to understand information about plans, including roughly two-thirds of adults with disabilities in the two pilot counties. Similar shares reported difficulty picking a plan. Fewer than half reported that they had received help in choosing a plan, and about one in five said they had tried but had been unable to obtain help.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, in collaboration with The Urban Institute and the University of Florida, is conducting a follow-up survey in Florida to continue to track the experiences of Medicaid enrollees in the reform program.
Are your patients having a hard time choosing a Medicaid plan? Send your stories to Associate Editor Chelsey Ledue at chelsey.ledue@medtechpublishing.com