Statewide Iowa — State Auditor Rob Sand says the private insurance companies that manage Iowa’s Medicaid system violated their contracts with the state in their treatment of two paralyzed individuals. Both patients were notified their care would end in 30 days, and Sand says the companies tried to pressure them into nursing homes rather than find new providers.
Sand says he’s forming a plan for a broader review of these issues.
Sand says the two patients mentioned in his letter to the state agency overseeing Medicaid deserve to have their in-home care restored, but he says this is also about the state holding the companies, known as MCOs, accountable.
The state can withhold some payment or sever contracts if the companies violate contracts. Sand is a Democrat. Other Democrats have called for a reversal of Medicaid privatization, but Republican officials support continuing the policy.
