News Release
Backlash Against HMOs Caused Few People to Bolt from the Health Plans
Mar 24, 2005
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HMO Enrollment | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | 1998 | 2001 | 1994–1998 | 1998–2001 | |
All insured | 24 | 40 | 39 | 16 | –1 |
Privately insured | 31 | 48 | 45 | 17 | –3 |
Medicare | 10 | 18 | 18 | 8 | <1 |
Medicaid | 10 | 27 | 37 | 17 | 10 |
All insured (by region) | |||||
Northeast | 26 | 48 | 45 | 22 | –3 |
Midwest | 22 | 32 | 31 | 10 | –1 |
South | 15 | 30 | 29 | 15 | –1 |
West | 37 | 53 | 57 | 16 | 4 |
NOTES: 1998–2001 is considered to be the post-backlash period. These results are population weighted. All numbers have been rounded.
Enrollment in HMOs (health maintenance organizations) exploded during the early 1990s, fueled by employers and public policymakers hoping to control rising health care costs. (HMOs typically enforce tight cost controls.) However, by the late 1990s, initial consumer support for managed care had eroded; consumers expressed fear that needed care might be withheld, and many favored tighter government regulation. A RAND Corporation study examined whether consumers "voted with their feet" by leaving their HMO plans.
The table shows trends in HMO enrollments during 1994–1998 versus the "post-backlash" period of 1998–2001.
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