J.D. Power conducted a study on Managed Medicaid programs, finding approximately 74 million beneficiaries are more satisfied with their Medicaid program than with commercial payer options.
The study examined overall satisfaction with managed Medicaid organizations based on six factors, on a thousand-point scale:
- Provider choice
- Coverage and benefits
- Customer service
- Cost
- Information and communication
- Claims processing
Here's what they found:
1. Managed Medicaid customers ranked their overall satisfaction as 784. Commercial payer customer satisfaction was 78 points lower.
2. Provider choice was the most important thing to Medicaid customers. For private payers, benefits and coverage was the most important element.
3. Forty-two percent of Medicaid enrollees put off receiving treatments and 40 percent avoided filling prescriptions because of cost.
4. States that have a dominant regional plan, or a statewide health system, provide wider access to providers and hospitals. Iowa, Tennessee, Arizona and Indiana provider the most access to providers and hospitals.
5. Indiana's Health Indiana plan, which requires health savings account contributions, has higher-out-of-pocket expenditures. However, patient satisfaction remains high.