The medical industry that makes money off the Medicaid entitlement spending is spinning the story through blogs and the News and Observer that there is no Medicaid spending problem in North Carolina.
Here are per enrollee cost figures from the Book of the States 2012 by the Council of State Governments. North Carolina is classified in the southern region.
Alabama $5086
Arkansas $5871
Florida $5855
Georgia $4835
Kentucky $7089
Louisiana $6371
Mississippi $5850
Missouri $8398
NC $7275
Oklahoma $6265
SC $6606
Tennessee $5150
Texas $6469
Virginia $7088
WVA $6886
http://knowledgecenter.csg.org/kc/system/files/BOS/medicaid_spending_national.pdf
West Virginia, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida all use managed care and out of the 15 states, North Carolina is the second biggest spender.
If North Carolina could match Virginia, saving $200/enrollee, Medicaid spending could be reduced by $360 million based on 1,800,000 recipients. If we matched Florida, we would reduce the budget by $2.5 billion.
The point is simple. Most states in our region spend less on Medicaid than we do. Most use managed care as part of their solution.
It’s our contention that managed care companies should compete for the Medicaid contract. CCNC should compete. And whatever medical industry ACOs that want to compete should be free to do so.
Competition will kill the need for insider lobbyists working for CCNC, the medical industry and managed care. Competition in Medicaid, not a monopoly, is a hope for better fiscal control. And competition should start now, not 5 years from now because delay only gives CCNC, their bloggers and lobbyists time to strangle Medicaid reform before it gets started.