Family Life

04.16.10 | FL News Team

Insurance giant UnitedHealth says it has strategies that can help ease the financial burden of expanding Medicaid under the new healthcare reform law. The insurer's Vice President Simon Stevens says a state-by-state overhaul of their Medicaid programs could save 149-billion dollars overall. President Obama's healthcare reform will expand Medicaid eligibility, adding an estimated 16-million Americans to the program when the changes take effect.

 UnitedHealth is proposing a managed-care model, which would break away from simply paying doctors a fee for each service they provide. Another aspect of the changes would be what Stevens describes as "back office stuff" such as care coordination and accurate electronic records that can be more easily shared between medical professionals. UnitedHealth stands to gain from the plan through assisting care coordination and handling much of the administrative tasks.