Eyes are on MedStar Health, which is threatening to end its contract with the two insurers — CareFirst and AmeriHealth — at the same time Mayor Muriel Bowser is temporarily extending its Medicaid contract.
Now, the two organizations are pointing to the effect severing ties between MedStar Health and the two insurers could have on Medicaid beneficiaries, according to WTOP.
“MedStar Health is using its market share leverage to bully the District into contract renegotiations and threatened to raise the discount pricing they have made to other managed care organizations, jeopardizing the health, well-being and health services access for hundreds of thousands of Black and Brown residents,” said Ambrose Lane, chair of the Health Alliance Network.
MedStar told WTOP that the organization has no intent to leave Medicaid beneficiaries vulnerable.
“MedStar Health’s notifications to the other two managed care organizations in the Medicaid managed care program were intended to prompt renegotiation of the existing provider agreements,” said MedStar spokesperson Marianne Worley. “Such notices are a routine way to initiate negotiations and occur across our industry as a normal part of how healthcare is delivered and financed.”
