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Creating 21st Century Medicaid System Requires Building Model Based on Choice, Flexibility, Accountability |
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From U.S. Newswire Releases: According to a September 2006 Gallup poll, more than 65 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries reported that they would likely switch to a Medicaid plan that offered the incentive of a shared savings account. The Gallup poll, the first of its kind in its examination of the role of incentives in changing Medicaid beneficiaries' behavior, was released today at the Center for Health Transformation's 2nd Annual "Creating a 21st Century Medicaid System" conference. The event, hosted by the Center for Health Transformation, which was founded by Speaker Newt Gingrich, served as a unique opportunity for a bipartisan group of over 150 public and private sector leaders to explore recent changes to the Medicaid System. Guest speakers included HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher and First Lady Glenna Fletcher, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and Marilyn Tavenner, Virginia secretary of health human resources. While the specifics of each presenter's speeches were distinct, the common theme of the life- and money-saving potential of injecting personal responsibility into Medicaid - whether it be through shared financial incentives, prevention/wellness efforts, and/or disease management reform - ruled the day. As one speaker, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, told the audience, providing the most vulnerable in our society with better health is of course "not only the moral goal," but it is also a financial imperative. As greater and greater portions of state and federal budgets are directed toward the Medicaid system, now is the time to seek out and apply solutions that will lead to more choices of higher quality at lower cost.
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