Trouble Persists in Ohio Following Shift to Managed Care

Some Ohio home care workers who provide services for “dual eligible” consumers — those who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid — have gone months without receiving a paycheck.

On July 1, the state shifted its payment process for such workers to two large managed-care organizations: Aetna Better Health of Ohio and Molina Healthcare of Ohio.

The shift has not gone smoothly, the Columbus Dispatch reported on October 12.

“It’s horrible; there’s nothing good about this managed-care program,” April Crawford, the client-care coordinator at a Toledo-based home health agency, told the Dispatch.

The article tells the story of two consumers living with spinal muscular dystrophy: Donna Jo Kazee, whose attendant was forced to leave her job after not getting paid for two months, and Dominick Evans, whose attendant nearly quit after going a month without a paycheck.

The Dispatch originally reported the workers’ lack of pay in August.

— by Matthew Ozga