Beshear to rebid managed care contracts

Dec. 24--A week after undoing former Governor Matt Bevin's Medicaid waiver, new Governor Andy Beshear said he is canceling and rebidding the state's Medicaid managed care contracts.

"I believe health care is a basic human right and that every family should be able to see a doctor when they are sick," Beshear said in a release. "Given the way the previous administration handled this process and lasting public concerns, the only option I had was to cancel the contracts and rebid. Moving forward we must ensure a fair and transparent process and meet every Kentuckian's health care needs."

According to release, the reasons behind the governor's actions include: the original request for proposal (RFP) included the previous administration's Medicaid waiver, which was ended last week by Gov. Beshear; the previous administration awarded nearly $8 billion in contracts to five providers with just 11 days left in office; public comments by the previous governor and concerns regarding bias against one of the bidders; and members of the General Assembly's Government Contract Review Committee unanimously voted to reject the contracts Dec. 9, the final day of the previous administration.

The release noted an RFP will be issued with a target date of Jan. 10 or earlier. Through a competitive bid process, the administration has a goal of selecting providers in the spring.

Last week, Beshear's administration notified the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that he was ending the 1115 demonstration project, known as Kentucky HEALTH, that required Kentuckians to meet certain work requirements in order to have health insurance coverage.

The governor also effectively ended Kentucky's litigation involving the waiver in federal court (the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia), and has asked the court to dismiss Kentucky from the lawsuit.

Jonathan Greene is the editor of The Register; follow him on Twitter @jgreeneRR.

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