For the past few years there has been much controversy regarding the issue of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and their treatment of patients. There are many problems occurring within this type of system and not nearly enough solutions. This paper will point out some of the major problems with health care in the United States and discuss some possible solutions for the future.
             The most important thing to understand is the way in which managed care actually works. It is a health care network where costs are restricted through utilization management. In this case, a primary care provider serves as the arranger for access to specialty care. Patients do not seek help from the specialists themselves. Instead the primary provider is left responsible for finding a more reasonable doctor at a more reasonable price. Most of the time physicians within managed care systems are paid as employees or receive a flat fee per patient per year. Patients using managed care systems usually have the option of choosing a primary care provider within the network, or paying an additional "out-of-pocket" expense to choose their own provider outside of the network. Both HMOs, and PPOs (preferred provider organizations) are examples of managed care systems. [1]
             When it comes to health insurance companies HMOs prove to be identical to any other type of business. They are backed by stockholders, and tend to care very much about maximizing their profits. Their main concern is making money in order to keep their stockholders happy. Many times this becomes a major problem in cases that involve the health of patients who belong to HMOs.
             Not more than ten years ago health care expenditures in the U.S. were increasing "at a rate of 11% per year." [2] Many large corporations worried that if these costs continued to grow then spending on research, development, and employee salaries would have to be cut. At this time corp...