Medicaid managed care and cost containment in the adult disabled population

Marguerite Burns studied the effect of Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) on health care expenditures for working age adults with disabilities by comparing individual monthly Medicaid expenditures across beneficiaries who reside in counties with mandatory, voluntary, and no MCOs. She found that on average, the total monthly expenditures did not differ between fee-for-service and MCO counties; however, there were some service-specific spending differences. Average monthly spending per beneficiary was higher for prescription medications in voluntary and mandatory MCO counties, and spending for other medical care and dental care was $4-11 higher per beneficiary in MCO relative to FFS counties.