Texas agency botched multibillion-dollar Medicaid bid

Texas Health and Human Services’ improper release of documents possibly gave Aetna an advantage to secure valuable Medicaid contracts. The agency should clarify why it deviated from norms and start the procurement process over.In Texas, millions of low-income residents are dependent on Medicaid for their health care coverage. The care provided is crucial to Texans, especially children and expectant mothers.

That’s why it’s concerning that the state department in charge of awarding Medicaid contracts released sensitive information that could have given one insurer, Aetna, an advantage during the bidding process. Texas Health and Human Services, the agency handling the bidding process, should redo its procurement process in the interest of fairness.on the agency’s error in The Texas Tribune.

For the 1.8 million Texans relying on Medicaid, that means getting dropped from their existing plan and being reassigned next year. For patients in the intensive care unit and on ventilators, avoidable changes to their treatment like this can be disruptive and possibly affect their health care.The only way forward is for Texas Health and Human Services to throw out the results of this procurement process and start over.

It’s impossible for insurers to unsee the bids of their competitors, but continuing with the results of this bidding process that was skewed in favor of one company would be a disservice to Texans.. Dallas Morning News editorials are written by the paper's Editorial Board and serve as the voice and view of the paper. The board considers a broad range of topics and is overseen by the Editorial Page Editor.

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