Three Charter Oak/HUSKY bids are in, Congressional investigation of United

Today DSS released the names of the managed care organizations (MCOs) that submitted bids for the HUSKY and Charter Oak plans to begin July 1st. They are Community Health Network, which currently participates in HUSKY, and two new MCOs – Aetna Better Health, a subsidiary of Schaller Anderson and Aetna, and AmeriChoice, a subsidiary of United Health Group. The death in February 2007 of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver, a United Health Plan Medicaid member in Maryland who died of a brain infection caused by untreated tooth decay, prompted a hearing and investigation by the Congressional Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The Subcommittee found that Deamonte was not alone; 10,780 children enrolled with United in Maryland’s Medicaid program had not seen a dentist in four or more consecutive years. The Subcommittee’s investigation also “raises serious questions about the quality of United’s network of providers and the reliability of the lists the company publishes for use by its enrollees.”
Ellen Andrews