Kicking People Off Medicaid Will Be Good For Private Industry, Of Course

As more than 17 million people stand to lose health insurance in the unfolding Medicaid eligibility review disaster, there’s one company licking its lips: Maximus, a little-known federal contractor that is one of the biggest players in privatizing essential government services previously done by civil servants — in particular, taking over states’ capacity to determine who is eligible for Medicaid and who isn’t.

In a February earnings call for shareholders and Wall Street analysts, Maximus’ CEO Bruce Caswell announced that the current nationwide eligibility review of 90 million people on Medicaid and other government health insurance programs “is unprecedented in its scope,” and will allow Maximus “to gain traction in the market.” As a result of the deluge in so-called Medicaid “redeterminations,” Caswell said, “we expect improvement to operating margin.”