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Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday said Medicaid recipients enrolled with a private company that had its state contract terminated can be covered by one of three remaining companies set to take over Iowa's $4.2 billion Medicaid program. Branstad said three is an adequate number of companies providing managed care of Medicaid services in the state. He said he can't predict the outcome of an expected legal challenge from WellCare of Iowa, the company whose services were formally dropped on Friday. (Rodriguez, 12/21)

The two month delay in Iowa's effort to privatize management of Medicaid means that most of the 37,000 children enrolled in a special health care program must transition to a new insurance carrier Jan. 1. But some of those children may face situations where their doctors don’t accept their new insurance carrier. (Clayworth, 12/21)