Managed care plans are health insurance plans that contract with
health care providers and medical facilities to provide care for
members at reduced costs. These providers make up the plan's
network. The growth of managed care in the U.S. was spurred by
the enactment of the Health Maintenance Organization Act of
1973. While managed care techniques were pioneered by health
maintenance organizations, they are now used by a variety of
private health benefit programs. Managed care is now nearly
ubiquitous in the U.S, but has attracted controversy because it
has largely failed in the overall goal of controlling medical
costs. Proponents and critics are also sharply divided on
managed care's overall impact on the quality of U.S. health care
delivery. The goals of managed health care are to ensure that:
The overall impact of managed care remains widely debated.
Proponents argue that it has increased efficiency, improved
overall standards, and led to a better understanding of the
relationship between costs and qualit