Health expenditures for privately insured adults enrolled in managed care gatekeeping vs indemnity plans.
OBJECTIVE
We assessed the ability of managed care gatekeeping strategies (i.e., requiring a designated primary care provider to authorize referrals) to control health care costs in the mid-1990s.


METHODS
We analyzed expenditure data from 8195 privately insured adults sampled in the nationally representative 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Managed care gatekeeping plan enrollees included those in health maintenance organizations and other plans requiring a primary care gatekeeper. All others were considered indemnity plan enrollees.


RESULTS
In 1996, total per capita annual health expenditures for adult gatekeeping enrollees were about $50 less than those of indemnity enrollees, primarily owing to lower out-of-pocket expenditures. After multivariate adjustment, mean per capita expenditures were approximately 6% lower for gatekeeping enrollees than for indemnity enrollees.


CONCLUSIONS
In the private sector, gatekeeping strategies resulted in modest cost savings over indemnity plans.
Pati
Susmita
S
Division of General Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, PH 9 East, Room 105, 622 West 168th St, New York, NY 10032, USA. pati@email.chop.edu
Shea
Steven
S
Rabinowitz
Daniel
D
Carrasquillo
Olveen
O
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017046:Cost Savings / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D020793:Gatekeeping; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D017149:Private Sector; D014481:United States