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Health Information
Health
care is changing quickly. Thirty years ago, nearly all Americans
had fee-for-charge coverage. A person with this type of insurance
could go to any doctor, hospital, or other health provider. The health
insurance company would then pay the provider or reimburse the
patient. Typically, the patient paid a portion of the costs through
coinsurance.
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Today there is
a full range of health insurance choices. Traditional indemnity plans
are at one end of the spectrum and Health Maintenance Organizations
(HMOs) are at the other. The plans in between, point-of-service (POS)
plans and preferred provider organizations (PPOs), are hybrids of
indemnity plans and HMOs.
Today, though, more than half of all Americans who have health
insurance are enrolled in some kind of managed care plan, a
more structured way of both providing health services and paying for
them. The initial impetus for managed care was a desire to contain
costs. Increases in health-care costs had far outpaced increases
in inflation throughout the '80s and into the '90s. |
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