The Enhanced Benefits Rewards Program: Is it Changing the Way Medicaid Beneficiaries Approach Their Health?
July 2008
Authors: Joan Alker and Jack Hoadley
Published by: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
A key feature of Florida's Medicaid Reform pilot is the Enhanced Benefits Rewards Program which provides each Medicaid beneficiary up to $125 a year in credits for certain healthy behaviors, such as keeping a doctor’s appointment. The credits may be applied to the purchase of health and personal care products at participating pharmacies. This policy brief analyzes the program reporting that it has been expensive to launch and slow to catch on, raising questions about its effectiveness and efficiency. It reports that though beneficiaries have earned $12.5 million in credits, only about 10 percent of those credits have been spent.
Download The Enhanced Benefits Rewards Program: Is it Changing the Way Medicaid Beneficiaries Approach Their Health? (PDF)This issue brief was released as part of the Assessing Florida’s Medicaid Reform project, conducted by researchers at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute and funded by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund.