Louisiana Picks Companies For Medicaid Managed Care Deals

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Four companies have been chosen to manage the care of 1.7 million Louisiana Medicaid patients.

Louisiana's health department announced Monday that the contracts, worth billions, will go to AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana, Community Care Health Plan of Louisiana, Humana Health Benefit Plan of Louisiana and United Healthcare Community Plan.

Terms of the deals remain to be negotiated.

Louisiana contracts with managed care companies to oversee services provided to 90 percent of its Medicaid recipients.

The state pays a per-member, per-month fee for each person enrolled in a health plan with the companies, mostly adults covered by Medicaid expansion, pregnant women and children. The enrollees get services through a network of doctors.

The current deals, negotiated by former Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration, expire Dec. 31. The new deals will begin in January.