Kansas awarded Medicaid contracts managing care for 458,000 individuals to Centene, UnitedHealthcare and Healthy Blue.
Incumbents Centene and UnitedHealthcare were awarded renewed contracts, which run from 2025 to 2027, according to a May 14 news release from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Healthy Blue, a newly formed collaboration between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, BCBS Kansas City and Elevance Health, was awarded its first contract.
Aetna, which currently holds a Medicaid managed care contract in the state, was not awarded a renewed contract.
UCare, which launched an effort to win a contract in the state in 2023, also lost out on the awards. The health and environment department received seven total bids but did not disclose which insurers were among the bidders, according to a May 15 report from the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Kansas has around 458,000 Medicaid beneficiaries. The state has not expanded Medicaid eligibility to all low-income adults, and efforts to expand the program in the state have been unsuccessful.