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Iowa insurance company to accept new Medicaid patients again

News

February 2nd, 2018 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An insurance company that had stopped accepting new Medicaid patients within Iowa’s privatized health care program will soon resume enrollment. The Iowa Department of Human Services announced Friday that Amerigroup plans to accept new patients beginning in May. Patients will then have a choice between Amerigroup and UnitedHealthcare, the other insurance company providing coverage.

Amerigroup also plans to provide coverage, beginning in March, for about 10,000 patients temporarily enrolled in the state’s old Medicaid reimbursement system. Amerigroup said late last year it didn’t have the capacity to accept new Medicaid patients. The company made the decision public after a third company, AmeriHealth Caritas, said it was leaving Iowa amid a contract dispute.

DHS says it’s responding to complaints over reduced services under the privatized Medicaid system.