Health Care System Evolution Paper
Health Care System Evolution Paper
This paper will discuss how HMOs have influenced current health care systems. HMOs have been able to reduce health care cost in many ways and have also faced many difficulties along the way. Many Americans years ago did not have health coverage and we are still seeing this today because of the cost of these plans.
HMOs or Health Maintenance Organizations are health care plans that reduce health care cost. Members of an HMO are usually required to make a co-payment when seeing a physician. A lot of time members have a deductible they will have to pay before they are able to see their physician too. These are just some of the ways HMOs try to keep health care cost down.
There are some 75 million Americans today covered under HMO plans. HMOs play a very strong role in determining how health care is delivered and how health care dollars are distributed. HMO enrollment has led to substantial reductions in hospital cost (The Rise of HMOs, n.d.). HMOs deliver health care to its members by networks. The networks are hospitals, groups of doctors and other health care providers which have agreed to serve members of a particular HMO (How do HMOs work, 2009).
Early HMOs and other similar institutions developed in the 1930s. The movement grew slowly in its first few decades and the majority of HMO enrollees belonged to the Kaiser System (The Rise of HMOs, n.d.). The American Medical Association (AMA) leaders were opposed to this organization, AMA associates were afraid that HMOs would lead to socialized medicine (The Rise of HMOs, n.d.). Kaiser offered prepaid health care to his employees, and with the determination of Kaiser and a handful of physicians, the HMO movement somehow survived.
HMOs were put into place to provide affordable quality care for the American people. Unfortunately, many Americans still do not have access to quality care because it is not affordable to many people. Uninsured Americans, if they do choose to go to
This paper will discuss how HMOs have influenced current health care systems. HMOs have been able to reduce health care cost in many ways and have also faced many difficulties along the way. Many Americans years ago did not have health coverage and we are still seeing this today because of the cost of these plans.
HMOs or Health Maintenance Organizations are health care plans that reduce health care cost. Members of an HMO are usually required to make a co-payment when seeing a physician. A lot of time members have a deductible they will have to pay before they are able to see their physician too. These are just some of the ways HMOs try to keep health care cost down.
There are some 75 million Americans today covered under HMO plans. HMOs play a very strong role in determining how health care is delivered and how health care dollars are distributed. HMO enrollment has led to substantial reductions in hospital cost (The Rise of HMOs, n.d.). HMOs deliver health care to its members by networks. The networks are hospitals, groups of doctors and other health care providers which have agreed to serve members of a particular HMO (How do HMOs work, 2009).
Early HMOs and other similar institutions developed in the 1930s. The movement grew slowly in its first few decades and the majority of HMO enrollees belonged to the Kaiser System (The Rise of HMOs, n.d.). The American Medical Association (AMA) leaders were opposed to this organization, AMA associates were afraid that HMOs would lead to socialized medicine (The Rise of HMOs, n.d.). Kaiser offered prepaid health care to his employees, and with the determination of Kaiser and a handful of physicians, the HMO movement somehow survived.
HMOs were put into place to provide affordable quality care for the American people. Unfortunately, many Americans still do not have access to quality care because it is not affordable to many people. Uninsured Americans, if they do choose to go to
References: Fang, H., Liu, H., & Rizzo, J. (2009). Has the use of physician gatekeepers declined among HMOs? Evidence from the United States (Document ID: 1706629131). http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com Health Care Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health-care How do HMOs work? (2009) What is an HMO? (2009). California Office of the Patient Advocate Retrieved from http://www.opa.ca.gov/report_card/hmowhatis.aspx