Medicaid and managed care: a lasting relationship?

The Medicaid program made a major commitment to managed care during the past decade. Following turbulent early years, the marriage matured and stabilized because managed care models responded well to a number of the states' goals and Medicaid purchasers were willing to make key trade-offs on behalf of their beneficiaries that conformed to the designs of managed care products. The relative tranquility in Medicaid managed care contrasts sharply with turmoil in both the commercial and Medicare sectors. But continuing changes in the managed care marketplace and financial distress in state budgets present new challenges to the strength and durability of this relationship.