Some pitfalls in creating competition between HMOs and fee-for-service delivery.
This paper examines four propositions inherent in competitive approaches to containing the growth of health care expenditures: (1) that health maintenance organizations can deliver health care less expensively than the fee-for-service system; (2) that under certain competitive conditions, HMOs would prosper; (3) that HMO successes would force FFS insurers and providers to become more efficient; and (4) that creating the competitive conditions would be politically feasible. Reasons for doubting the latter three propositions are plentiful, and the strategy is therefore judged unlikely to succeed.
D004465:Economic Competition; D004467:Economics; D005251:Fees, Medical; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D011057:Politics; D014481:United States