States privatized Medicaid. It didn't save money or make care better.

It turns out states privatized Medicaid to save money and improve care, but it did neither. This means the billions spent on private managed care insurers have not delivered on their promises.

State governments have contracted out Medicaid services to private insurers for decades, assuming it would make the program cheaper and better. This paper shows that assumption was wrong. It means state governments now have evidence that a major policy choice has not delivered its intended benefits.