Posted December 11, 2019
On Nov. 26, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced five new statewide contract awards for managed care organizations (MCOs): Aetna Better Health of Kentucky, Humana Health Plan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Kentucky, United Healthcare DBA UnitedHealthcare community Plan of Kentucky and WellCare Health Insurance of Kentucky.
WellCare was also awarded a contract to serve all foster children in Kentucky.
Anthem and Passport Health Plan have confirmed that they are in the process of filing a protest to Kentucky’s decision to award Medicaid managed care contracts statewide to five other insurers.
The Secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet has the authority to determine protests for procurements conducted under Kentucky Revised Statutes (“KRS”) Chapter 45A. KRS 45A.285. KRS 45A applies “to every expenditure of public funds by this Commonwealth under any contract or like business agreement.
As Anthem and Passport continue to use the protest process as the legal remedy for contract dispute in Kentucky the Medicaid Oversight Committee an advisory panel of state lawmakers unanimously disapproved and voted against $8 billion worth of Medicaid contracts issued by Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration. On the way out, the Bevin Administration overturned the committee’s unanimous decision to reject the contract awards.
As the fight over the contracts continues the effective date for the new Medicaid contracts is July 1, 2020. The start date could be impacted by:
- Reversal of the contract awards in connection with one or more successful protests by Anthem and Passport
- Delay in the start date for the contracts
- Other actions taken by the Beshear administration
Meanwhile it is business as usual for all the current MCOs.
