Tagged: passport health plan

After decades of having one company oversee Medicaid, the Louisville area will now have four private Medicaid providers.

The Louisville area was the first part of the state to have Medicaid privatized, and Passport Health Plan has administered the program ever since.

But the rest of the state has since been privatized, and multiple operators compete for patients across the commonwealth.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced today that Passport will now have competition from CoventryCares, WellCare and Humana.

The process of opening the Louisville area to Medicaid competition is underway.

Passport Health Plan has run Medicaid in the area for 15 years, but the state has been ordered by the federal government to allow at least one more private operator to do business in the region.

Passport officials say they will bid for the contract and requests were sent to other potential bidders this week.

A Kentucky lawmaker says implementation of a federal mandate to allow private companies to compete for Medicaid contracts in Louisville could be delayed.

Currently, Medicaid in Louisville and the surrounding area is managed by the private company Passport Health Plan. But the federal government has ordered Kentucky to open the area to competition. And the company United Healthcare is already attempting to muscle into the region.

State officials have not yet given private Medicaid operators permission to do business in the Louisville area, but that hasn’t stopped one company from trying to make inroads.

State officials have not yet given private Medicaid operators permission to do business in the Louisville area, but that hasn't stopped one company from trying to make inroads.

The problems with privatized Medicaid in Eastern and Western Kentucky could be coming to Louisville.

Passport Health Plan has run Medicaid in Louisville and the surrounding area for more than a decade. The system was the model for last year's Medicaid privatization, which brought three new Medicaid management companies into the state.