Department of Economics

This paper summarizes a longer paper, written for the American Association of Health Plans. That paper extensively surveys the research on the savings due to managed care and quantifies the costs of eliminating specific managed care practices in terms of both dollars and in terms of increasing the number of uninsured consumers. This issue is of immediate policy interest because managed care has recently come under legislative and legal attack that would eliminate or hinder the various managerial actions and contractual practices that constitute its essence.