Educating Consumers About Medicaid

Pennsylvania’s Mandatory Managed Care program for Medicaid recipients known as HealthChoices was introduced in 1997. This new program moved away from the traditional Fee-For-Service model. The goal of HealthChoices was to provide integrated and coordinated healthcare delivery with medical, behavioral and substance abuse services for Medicaid recipients. The program was offered on a voluntary basis in certain counties but in 2012, the state began a major expansion of the program by requiring mandatory enrollment in Managed Care Organizations (MCO) in 2013. 

The stigma of accessing services through Medicaid, a government funded program, affected many enrollees and contributed to negative attitudes and bias toward recipients. Communities, organizations, and recipients highlighted the need to reduce the stigma of using Medicaid. Studies have shown that even some providers may treat Medicaid enrollees differently than those with private health insurance. Some saw using Medicaid as a sign of personal failure or the inability to afford other forms of health care coverage. 

With this in mind, the Department of Public Welfare, now the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, worked with MCOs to help reduce social stigma and negative perceptions of those with Medicaid by changing the appearance of the Medicaid ID card. MCOs like Keystone Health Plan East, Gateway and others changed the look, feel and color of their Member ID cards to make them less identifiable but also carry the company brand, style and logo. Many companies aligned their Medicaid ID cards to look or feel like their Medicare or Commercial cards.

The push to reduce stigma over the years has been such an overwhelming success that now, many Medicaid recipients do not know or understand they have Medicaid for their health coverage.