Republicans also talk of moving more retirees into managed-care medical programs, which they say are cheaper to run.

The managed-care program will be open to families of four earning less than $32,100 a year.

"Most facilities now operate under managed-care programs," he said, "meaning they want to get you out faster than ever before."

The new program was made possible because the state has received waivers for experimental managed-care programs.

State officials and industry experts say managed-care programs can save 10 percent to 30 percent of the medical costs.

Child Health Plus is run as a managed-care program.

Numbers like those have dissuaded most providers from setting up the new managed-care programs envisioned by the 1997 law.

Large volume is important, because profit margins are slim in managed-care programs.

The new customers joined a network of managed-care programs that now includes nearly 700 hospitals, 50,000 physicians and 2.5 million members.

The results tell me that we are going much too fast in converting Medicaid to a managed-care program.