Abstract
The paper reviews and evaluates current and future approaches to cost containment in the United States. Managed care was once seen as an effective approach to supporting health care quality while containing costs in the USA. In recent years payors started to look in other directions, since prospects for limiting expenses faded. Nowadays consumer driven health plans seem to be on the rise. The reasons for the decline of managed care, the growing popularity of the consumer driven health plans and the implications for Europe are discussed.
Highlights
The development of health care policy is increasingly being influenced by cost considerations
Research has frequently demonstrated that, while Europe has greater capacity and higher utilization of services than the United States, Americans are paying more for these services
Current and future approaches to cost containment in the United States need to be viewed in a broader context
Summary
The development of health care policy is increasingly being influenced by cost considerations. In the private health insurance industry, managed care plans controlled costs and the delivery of care by restricting hospital utilization, such as admissions and lengths of stay, by limiting access to specialists, and by encouraging healthful behaviors among subscribers [9] Beyond these circumstances, current and future approaches to cost containment in the United States need to be viewed in a broader context. These developments caused payors in America to look in other directions for approaches to containing health care expenses In this context, the recent experience of the United States with respect to health care and its economic impact may have valuable implications for that nation and for the rest of the world. This information suggests that managed care was successful in controlling costs in a variety of settings
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