The Emerging Medicaid Specialty Health Plan Market

Back in 2014, we wrote about a new "phenomenon" in Medicaid—the vertical carve-out to consumer-specific specialty health plan (see The Vertical HMO Arrives). As state Medicaid plans expanded the use of this model, and included new populations, we reported on what appeared to be a growing trend (see The Vertical Carve-Out Phenomenon: An Update). This is a parallel market phenomenon to the development of the Medicare Advantage special needs plans (SNP) that provide a full continuum of benefits to Medicare beneficiaries with complex needs, which began to emerge in 2006 (see Medicare Specialty Vertical Carve-Out . . .