Safety-net health plans: a status report

This paper reports on a national survey of Medicaid managed care plans sponsored by safety-net provider organizations that have a mission of service to low-income populations. We identified ninety-nine safety-net plans and obtained data from eighty of them regarding their sponsorship, age and size, relationships to sponsors, managed care practices, and measures of success. Most plans engage in active managed care and have achieved at least some of their goals. However, 60 percent of plans lost money in 1997, and economic trends have been unfavorable.