Medicaid contracts are public records

5/7/07
In the interest of open governance, the General Assembly should continue to pursue legislation to require Medicaid HMOs to disclose more information about their rates and services. Despite a recent setback, the amount of money involved — in the hundreds of millions of dollars every year — demands public accountability.
A bill that would have subjected the groups to disclosure requirements under the Freedom of Information Act was pared down as it passed through an Assembly committee recently, removing language that defined the businesses’ contracts with the state as public records. But it should be clear that by managing the state’s Medicaid program, the organizations are doing state business, and should be subject to the same disclosure rules as any other government service.
Lawyers for the HMOs counter by saying that technical information on rates and services is proprietary and could be used by competitors to undercut future business. While it’s a valid complaint, the need for open governance takes precedence; there’s simply no excuse for having government business take place in secret.
Court rulings and a decision by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal have strengthened the case to require openness, but the powerful medical lobbies have resisted legislative changes. The court decision is under appeal to the state Appellate Court, which will likely rule the same way.
A company that wants to protect information it deems proprietary has an alternative — don’t do business with the state. With $722 million on the line in the Medicaid program, that won’t happen anytime soon, and courts and legislators are right to hold them to account. How taxpayer money is spent is public information, and must fall under state Freedom of Information law.