UCare has suffered a second setback in its plans for well being plan development exterior Minnesota.
In outcomes introduced this month, Kansas officers gave low marks to the Minneapolis-based well being upkeep group’s bid on a contract to handle take care of beneficiaries throughout the state’s Medicaid program. They advisable contract awards for Minnetonka-based UnitedHealthcare, a division of Missouri-based Centene Corp., and a partnership between two Blue Cross and Blue Protect well being insurers.
UCare’s bid for development in Iowa suffered an identical destiny in August 2022, when state Medicaid officers opted to rent two for-profit medical insurance corporations, slightly than the nonprofit UCare.
“We’re upset by the KanCare outcomes, however knew that competing towards established plans in Kansas could be extraordinarily difficult,” UCare wrote in a press release to the Star Tribune. “In our view, each (request for proposals) alternative is a priceless studying expertise and constructing block for eventual success.”
With roughly 1,700 workers, UCare is Minnesota’s fifth largest nonprofit group. The insurer was based within the Eighties by College of Minnesota household medication docs as a part of an indication mission to see if nonprofit well being plans may successfully handle take care of folks within the Medicaid program, which primarily covers lower-income residents.
Through the years, as UCare added Medicare Benefit protection for seniors and well being plans for people to its lineup of companies, its geographic attain has largely been restricted to Minnesota and components of Wisconsin.
In Kansas, the HMO made grants to sure well being care teams and employed a market president for operations as prep work for the bidding course of.
Final yr, UCare introduced it will pay $100 million to the College of Minnesota as a part of a settlement wherein the U relinquished its majority on UCare’s board of administrators. The funds, that are being paid via UCare’s basis, will assist a wide range of well being care packages and companies comparable to care in underserved communities as collectively recognized by the U and the well being plan.
In 2022, the college sued UCare to cease the HMO from altering the composition of its board. The U’s lawsuit urged college officers had used their board positions to query UCare’s proposed growth in Iowa.
In its assertion Wednesday, UCare wrote: “We consider our 40 years as a number one authorities packages well being plan, our deep dedication to serving Medicaid members and our community-based mannequin are property right here in Minnesota — in addition to in new states that search a “high-performing accomplice.”
On the finish of final yr, UCare was offering protection for about 636,000 folks, about 48% greater than on the finish of 2019. The rise has been due partially to the pause in redeterminations for Medicaid eligibility through the COVID public well being emergency.
