Friday, February 16, 2018

Crony capitalism reigns at the Capitol

The Mississippi Hospital Association said bend the knee and the Mississippi House of Representatives did so.  It is not known if knee pads were worn.  Larrison Campbell reported in Mississippi Today on February 8:


The House has voted to give Mississippi’s only provider-sponsored insurance plan another shot at winning a contract with the Division of Medicaid, an unorthodox move that some say lets the Legislature pick agency contracts.

On Thursday, the House passed an amendment that would require the Division of Medicaid to rebid contracts for its lucrative managed care program, valued at approximately $3 billion a year. Under managed care, the agency hires insurers to manage the health care of Medicaid recipients....

 The move is the latest in a string of attempts to find a way to let Mississippi True, a nonprofit insurance plan made up of 60 Mississippi hospitals, into the state’s managed care market. After the new company, which has the support of the state’s powerful Hospital Association, failed to win a contract last summer, several powerful lawmakers cried foul, suggesting — often publicly — that the Division of Medicaid had unfairly favored other companies....

 Thursday’s amendment is part of the House’s Medicaid technical bill, which reauthorizes the rules governing the state’s Medicaid program. An earlier version of the bill would have given Mississippi True a small managed care contract under the guise of a “pilot program,” mandating that the agency move up to 10 percent of the managed care population to the new company. Although this provision passed out of committee, few seemed happy with it as written...

But of course, this wasn't good enough for the crybabies at the Mississippi Hospital Association:

 The current managed care contracts guarantee each company in the program at least 20 percent of the managed care population. Chuck Reece, chairman of the board of Mississippi True told Mississippi Today last week that a carve out of 10 percent of the population “wasn’t actuarially sound. It just won’t work.” 

But even those in support of the legislation, including White who presented the plan, had worried that giving more than 10 percent of the population to this company would turn the “pilot program” into “a straight no-bid contract to the hospitals.” Rest of article.

Ya think? It is said one doesn't want to watch laws or sausage made.  This isn't sausage but rather a bucket of pig $*#)@.  Mississippi True submitted a bid that scored way behind five other bids.  It complained it was penalized because it had no experience in operating a health insurance plan. Perhaps someone should ask these multi-gazillion dollar hospitals if they would hire a CEO with no experience.  One can be that the hospitals don't practice what they are trying to push on the Division of Medicaid.   The bid was so bad that MHA still would not have won a contract if it had received full credit for experience but facts haven't really mattered in this debacle. The Mississippi Hospital Association is simply trying to muscle its way into grabbing Medicaid patients, competition be damned. 

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the so-called conservative watchdogs are very quiet.  Jerry Turner, the so-called conscience of the House, rose to milk-carton status instead of his feet when this bill was discussed.  Americans for Prosperity? Supertalk? Crickets. One can only imagine what they would say if this had happened under the reign of Billy McCoy. 

Meanwhile, the bill moves over to the Senate. 


Note: The amendment states:

AMEND by deleting lines 1062 through 1083 in their entirety and inserting the following:

"(6) From and after July 1, 2019, the Legislature shall not appropriate any funds for (a) the contracts that were in effect as of January 1, 2017, between the division and the managed care entities with which the division has contracted to provide Medicaid services on a capitated basis under a managed care program or coordinated care program implemented by the division under this subsection (H); and (b) the contracts that were in effect as of January 1, 2018, between the division and the managed care entities with which the division has contracted to provide Medicaid services on a capitated basis under a managed care program or coordinated care program implemented by the division under this subsection (H) after the expiration of the contracts described in paragraph (a); and the division shall terminate the contracts described in paragraphs (a) and (b) with those managed care entities on July 1, 2019. In order to provide Medicaid services on a capitated basis under a managed care program or coordinated care program under this subsection (H) after July 1, 2019, the division shall issue a request for proposals (RFP) to select not less than three (3) managed care entities to provide those services, with such specifications, terms and conditions as determined by the division. Any provider sponsored health plan licensed and established pursuant to Section 83-5-601 et seq. shall not be penalized in the procurement process for lack of experience. The division shall select the managed care entities that submit the best proposals that meet the criteria specified by the division."

17 comments:

hiramrdavis2 said...

"No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility." U.S. Const., Art. I, Section 10. This sure seems to me like the State of Mississippi is passing a law impairing the obligation of a state contract.

Anonymous said...

Still sitting over here waiting for a decent (doesn't even have to be good) explanation of why the fox (providers and hospitals) should guard the hen house (Medicaid payments to providers and hospitals).

Anonymous said...

Still sitting over here waiting for a decent explanation of what this actually says and means to an average citizen in a thousand words or less, notwithstanding the bullshit of hiramrdavis2 thanks.

Anonymous said...

Dear troll at 3:03. What this says is that the legislature is going to pass a law requiring the division of medicaid to rebid a contract awarded to a group not favored by the legislature. The "bullshit" you referred to is language from the United States Constitution. Our forefathers drafted that document and adopted it in 1789. It lays out the relationship between the various states and the federal government. It also limits the powers of both. Some people are fond of that document and various amendments to it. One part of that document says that a state cannot pass a law that revokes a contract. You see, prior to its adoption, states routinely nullified contracts when they were awarded to crony companies. Our founding fathers disagreed with that practice and banned it in what is known as the "contracts clause" of Article I. Good luck in all of your endeavors.

Anonymous said...

By definition, cronyism is inherently ingrained in ALL elected officials. However, our short-sighted citizenry is always duped into picking a team and siding with that team while asserting that only the other team practices cronyism. The fact is that every elected official commits (sometimes unwittingly) to cronyism. After being elected, they come to understand that it is the best ticket to reelection.

Anonymous said...

It is a conflict of interest for the hospital association to also be the ones who decides coverage of treatment.

Anonymous said...

It’s a conflict of interest for the biggest campaign donor organization in the state to run both the legislature and Medicaid.

Anonymous said...

This is AWFUL policy and the House leaders know it. But when a majority of your caucus is willing to give them the entire program, this is what you end up with. “Conservative” Becky Currie is the real disappointment. I guess Formby isn’t there to hold her hand and tell her how to vote anymore.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you keep electing people based on political opinions you get on talk radio from admitted drug addicts and those with a confirmed history of mental illness and the inability to maintain relationships in their private life, this is what you get.

HDMatthias, MD said...

I have asked my Senator and Representative to introduce a bill (unfortunately next year) that will retain an esteemed outside firm to evaluate whether ANY of the managed care companies that administer Medicaid in the state actually SAVE ANY MONEY.

We physicians can't imagine how this happens, as the time, aggravation, and paperwork required to get anything done through these companies CERTAINLY outweighs any money saved.

After all these years, why hasn't the Legislature done this yet? Don't they want to know if these billion-dollar companies are worth our money?

Anonymous said...

This is an example of the corruption that keeps Mississippi last in most everything.

Anonymous said...

The Hospital Association's actions will become type next big scandal to erupt in Mississippi. Political influence wielded to void legal contracts with winning bidders for $3 billion in contracts is a no no. But what would one expect? The CEO of the hospital's front group, Ms. True was forced out of another Healthcare company as a result of fraud investigations relative to Medicare? Note to everyone involved with this bunch; get out while you can.

Anonymous said...

There is nothing conservative about any of these folks that are bought and paid for by the MHA.

Our GOP leadership should be ashamed for acting like they know how to fix Medicaid just because somebody told them how to over a steak dinner.

Anonymous said...

Corruption flows through both parties. Tired of the petty finger pointing between “followers “ of each party. Both are corrupt.

Anonymous said...

Someone please tell the good doctor HDMathiasMD that there have been two independent studies done that identified over $250 million in savings. One was The Wakely Group and another was an independent healthcare consultant contracted by Medicaid as a result of a state law. The way they save money do by keeping people healthy and out of emergency rooms. They also save money by limiting uneccesary medical costs incurt3d by providers. Note to doctors and hospitals: keeping patients healthy cost Medicaid less than treating sick people in emergency rooms. Maybe if docs and hospitals spent more time keeping folks healthy, they would spent less on paperwork and would require less oversight to do their jobs without bankrupting their patients or Medicaid. Anyone heard of a doctor going bankrupt lately? Fact: hospitals and doctors have fought managed care in every state because they do not want oversight of their profits and charges to patients.

Anonymous said...

I love the shock that there's some sort of cronyism or crony capitalism going on in Mississippi.

It's not like the Farmer's Market catering contract went to the child of a former (sitting at the time of award) council woman's daughter...after the contract being separated out from the fairgrounds contract to insure the awardee was 'qualified.'

It's not like Phil's kid's employer got the contract to decorate the Governor's Mansion.

It's not like the Director of the History Museum is married to the Project Manager for the architecture firm that built the same museum.

Patronage jobs, contracts, and dollars follow an all too predictable pattern here in Mississippi. Here's a crazy idea. You want this to stop? Give these idiots in our government less power and less money.

Kingfish said...

The contract to redecorate was paid for with private funds. No state money paid for it.


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