Periods of unmanaged care in Medicaid managed care

Churning in Medicaid has been long recognized as a problem leading to breaks in coverage. Tenure in Medicaid managed care has received less attention. Recent reports indicate that children's tenures in health plans are far shorter than tenures in Medicaid itself, but explanations for the difference are not given. In the research reported here, we conducted case studies in five states to determine difference in tenure and reasons for the difference. Our investigation showed that children were enrolled in Medicaid two to four months longer than in specific Medicaid health plans. The major reasons for the gap were retroactive enrollment in Medicaid and delays in selecting a health plan. Frequent and burdensome Medicaid renewal processes exacerbate the problem, resulting in breaks in enrollment and the need to reenroll. The task of managing the care of Medicaid children is difficult without adequate tenures in health plans.