BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) has renewed its contract with Aetna Better Health. After recently notifying UnitedHealthcare (UHC) and Aetna Better Health that their contracts to serve as Louisiana Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) would not be renewed, Aetna will now serve as an MCO in 2026.
UHC’s contract is still set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025.
State lawmakers had voted in November to extend the state’s agreements by one year with both companies, as well as others.
UWK reached out to LDH regarding UHC’s contract on Dec. 8. LDH Spokesperson Emma Herrock sent the following information:
The Department will soon reach the end of our three-year contract for our six Medicaid MCOs. While authority was granted by the Joint Legislative Committee of the Budget (JLCB) to extend the contracts for one year, we’ve decided to move forward with the remaining four MCOs. The Department is making preparations to distribute current membership to other plans, and we have total confidence that these plans will meet this moment to ensure a successful continuity of care for these members by maintaining access to care to physicians, hospitals, and all other Medicaid services across the state.
AmeriHealth Caritas, Elevance Health, Humana, Louisiana Healthcare Connections and Aetna Better Health are the other private companies that are MCOs in Louisiana and will absorb those members who are currently on the UHC plan.
LDH will use an algorithm to help pick a plan for each person who needs to switch from UHC, according to Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein. It will prioritize keeping families together with the same health care company and making sure the doctors and other medical professionals a person sees most frequently take their new insurance.
LDH plans to move the enrollees with Aetna and UHC coverage to new health plans before the end of the year. Greenstein told The Louisiana Illuminator that he’s confident the other companies offering Medicaid plans will be able to handle the influx of new patients.
According to previous reports, Aetna and UHC provide Medicaid insurance for 157,800 and 330,700 Louisiana residents, respectively, covering one-third of the state’s 1.53 million enrollees.
Layoffs are a concern, with many employees currently left in the dark on their status. UWK learned that some UHC employees discovered on Friday, Dec. 5 that their roles would be terminated, but nothing has been shared officially at this time.
A behavioral health advocate at UHC, who requested to remain anonymous, spoke to UWK about the concerns he and others have. At the time of publication, he said he had not heard whether his team would still have positions with UHC after the start of 2026.
“All we want to do is help our members,” he said. “Some positions have worked with the same members for a year or more. We really care about these people.”
As an advocate for behavioral health members, he added that the potential limbo for patients is concerning: “n the case of mental health, it’s very important that there are not any gaps in care. We do not want anyone to fall through the cracks.”
Job positions that could be affected include everyone from other advocates and coordinators, to counselors, social workers, pharmacists, and nurses, he told UWK.
Editor’s Note: This report was created with collaboration from the Louisiana Illuminator.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
