CareSource, an Ohio-based health insurance company, is continuing its expansion into Wisconsin’s long-term care and health insurance market.
CareSource has struck a deal with Lakeland Care, a nonprofit based in Fond du Lac that manages long-term care for people with disabilities and elderly people in Wisconsin’s Family Care program, according to a news release issued May 5.
If approved by regulators, Lakeland Care will become part of CareSource.
“Together we can more effectively deliver the support that our community deserves,” Sara Muhlbauer, the chief executive of Lakeland Care, said in the release.
It’s the third deal with a Wisconsin-based health care organization that CareSource, which has more than 2 million members, has announced in recent months.
It also marks yet another change to Family Care, a state Medicaid program that helps some of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable adults live as independently as possible in their own homes and communities. The program pays for long-term care, such as adult day care and in-home caregivers, for about 53,000 frail seniors and adults with cognitive and physical disabilities.
Until recently, Family Care was managed by Wisconsin-based nonprofit companies specialized in long-term care. But in recent years, large, outside health insurance companies have begun making inroads.
In 2023, two of the nonprofits were bought by national health insurance corporations: Molina Healthcare and a subsidiary of Humana. They contract with the state to continue operating the Family Care program.
The remaining two nonprofits are slated to become part of CareSource, also a nonprofit.
In an announcement last year, CareSource said it was pursuing an agreement with Community Care, based in Brookfield, that would make it part of the Ohio-based company. That deal is awaiting approval from regulators, alongside the latest one with Lakeland Care.
Lakeland Care serves about 7,200 people in the Family Care program across 31 counties.
The May 5 release alluded to a growing demand for long-term care and to financial challenges facing nonprofits like Lakeland Care, but did not give more details for the reason behind the affiliation.
CareSource first entered Wisconsin’s market when it struck a deal with Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative, which sells health plans to Wisconsinites on the marketplace set up by the Affordable Care Act. The affiliation was finalized on Jan. 1.
CareSource’s primary line of business is managing members’ Medicaid benefits, but it also offers health plans sold on the marketplaces and Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare Advantage is a private-sector alternative to traditional Medicare, the health insurance program for people 65 and older.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lakeland Care of Fond du Lac expected to join Ohio health insurer CareSource
Reporting by Sarah Volpenhein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
