I wrote above that Iowa started with four managed care organizations (MCOs), but that's only technically true. Wellcare left Iowa's MCO system before it even began, following insider favoritism. Just over a year ago, Amerihealth made the decision to pull out of Iowa's MCO system following large monetary losses and a break-down in their updated contract negotiations with the state.
Which has left Iowa's Medicaid recipients with two MCOs to choose from: United Healthcare and Amerigroup of Iowa, with news that a third MCO would soon be starting in Iowa on July 1st: Iowa Total Care.
News broke late yesterday that contract negotiations have continued to stall between United Healthcare and the state. Shortly before 5:00 PM, it was announced that UHC will be pulling out of Iowa's MCO systems "in the next several months." I know several UHC case managers. They learned about UHC leaving Iowa right around the same time that everyone else did. They were told that they would have jobs through the end of June.
According to an Iowa DHS press releases, UHC objected to contract changes that would have required the company to meet specific performance standards that would require them to pay back money to the state if/when they failed to meet those objectives.
427,000 Iowans are served by UHC and will be find themselves scrambling to sign up with a new MCO by the end of the fiscal year.