Who is monitoring health care spending?

To the editor:

How cheery to read Iowa Medicaid Director Mikki Stier's editorial ('Medicaid changes will enable better care,” Sept. 25).

It seems these corporate foxes (Amerigroup, AmeriHealth, UnitedHealthcare and Wellcare) will not wreak havoc in Iowa's health care henhouse. Each of these four companies entrusted with managing the care of 560,000 Iowans has been convicted of and fined for fraud. In neighboring Illinois, Amerigroup refused enrollment to eligible patients, resulting in a $225 million fine. Wellcare inflated expenses, cut patient care expenditures and took the difference as profit, incurring an $80 million fine.

How will this enable better care? Where is the evidence that privatization lowers Medicaid costs? We have hired Volkswagen to monitor the spending of state health care dollars.

Mary Kemen

Cedar Rapids