Three's a charm

Could the Buckeye State save almost a quarter of a billion dollars with a new  Medicare/Medicaid pilot program?

Perhaps:

"Ohio is the third state to get approval from the federal government for an experiment to improve health while reducing costs to care for a population of disabled Ohioans with multiple chronic conditions who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits."

Five carriers - Aetna, UHC, CareSource and two others - will participate in the program, scheduled to launch next September. It's basically a capitation plan; insurers receive a monthly stipend per insured (or "beneficiary" in gummint-speak) to cover all care. Like the ObamaTax MLR requirement, carriers must pay out at least 85% of those dollars in claims.

For a bit of perspective, keep in mind that Ohio currently spends something like $5 billion a year in Medicare/Medicaid claims, and the program (if successful) is expected to save $243 million over three years. That's about $81 million a year (at best), or about 1.5% of that $5 large.

Yowza.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Holly R]