In reference to: "Despite Progress, Problems—New And Old—Pop Up In Florida's Medicaid Managed Care Program," Health News Florida, Sept. 15, 2014
To the Editor,
Like many other states, Florida has shifted the administration of its Medicaid into a program administered by the private insurance industry.
Without evidence or disclosure by the private Medicaid plans business/profit interests, private HMOs claim this will save the state millions annually.
Shockingly, we let the Scott Republican administration get away with this by forgetting that adding a " profiteering middleman" to manage health care delivery has always added costs, not lowered them.
We should remove private corporate HMOs from the administration of our public programs in Florida. Privatization of Florida's Medicaid will surely increase costs, without any corresponding increase in quality or access to care.
F. Douglas Stephenson, LCSW, LMFT, BCD, is a graduate of The University of Chicago and was a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida. He is a retired psychotherapist who practiced in Alachua and Citrus Counties.
